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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23467465">Ghosteen</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToTheTeeth/pseuds/ToTheTeeth'>ToTheTeeth</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Danny Phantom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Full Ghost Danny Fenton, Gen, Psychological Trauma</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:33:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>36,569</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23467465</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToTheTeeth/pseuds/ToTheTeeth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Danny's powers don't develop quickly or reach the "superhero" level. He's just a walking dead boy trying to make sense of his predicament, thrown into a whole new world of dangerous things, torn between his humanity and his ghostly cravings.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>134</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Bends</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm sure this has been written before, but I'm stuck at home and I need to practice my writing and this story is the only thing I'm being able to write (I have 4 chapters written already), so like that tumblr post said: more cake is always good, right?</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The bathroom lights flickered, casting a golden warmth at the soft baby blue tiles. Danny Fenton stumbled his way in and closed the door behind, locking it tightly. His feet made it to the mirror before his eyes showed him the way. With his sight blurred and twisted, the first thing Danny noticed was the white aura on the top of his head. His hand reached for the faucet, he lowered his heavy head and splashed it with cool water, rubbing his eyes and running his fingers through his hair until the uneasiness became bearable.</p><p>After 14 years, Danny finally had an accident with one of his parents' inventions, he wondered how it took him that long, but then, no invention before were as dangerously intriguing as that one. You tell a jaded teenage boy you built a portal to another dimension and you expect him NOT to go into it? His parents truly were as oblivious as people believed.</p><p>But Danny didn't see any alternate reality, or an otherworldly realm full of nasty creatures with hundreds of tentacles like the books and movies his friend Sam enjoyed. No. He saw something much, much worst. In a split second that felt like 14 or so years, Danny saw his life flash before his eyes and for a moment he had mixed feelings about dying. He didn't die though, he was just electrocuted, and it wasn't as explosive as movies made it up to be (kinda like how real quicksand turned out), no super speed, no lighting coming out of his fingers, not even a cool scar, all that Danny was left with was nausea, sore muscles, and...</p><p>White hair.</p><p>The teenage boy stared at the person before him. Danny had to admit the white hair was kinda cool - in an avant-garde sort of way he couldn't pull off - and his eyebrows were still black so he didn't look like an old person, his skin turned ghastly even under the vanity lights his sister Jazz installed, it all worked together to highlight the month worth of luggage sagging under his eyes. He hoped to be just the product of shock (physically and mentally) and that after a nice warm shower and a hefty meal, his complexion would return to a normal (less pale) shade. He couldn't explain the hair, though. Not to himself or to his family.</p><p>And boy, oh boy. Danny would <em>not</em> tell his family the real reason.</p><p>The first touch of hot water from the shower crossed his nervous system like a little line of fire ants, Danny fiddled with the sensitive hot and cold faucets ever so slightly. He read once in a boring science magazine about a theory that frogs would be cooked alive if the temperature changed gradually, he was more than happy to subject himself for a human test. Simmering slowly, he became one with the rising steam trapped inside the glass box, fuming, changing the room to a hazy, ethereal white void. The boundaries of his body ceased to exist, his feet hovered over the rubber rug and faded with the vapor. The water flowed through and within his body, like the pleasant burning of Sam's father's expensive whiskey he (more than) once tried, but without the foul taste left in the tongue. Finding himself unable to leave, he soon lost track of time, Danny remained there for an eternity or two, mind going blank.</p><p>A thunderous bang reverberated through every surface of the small room, from the door up to the thin glass, trembling, up to Danny's humming core, shattering the illusion of a calming void. The muffled shouts of a familiar voice ordered him to get out, and with more reluctance than leaving the bed in the morning, Danny did so. He left the glass box along with the trapped fog, and his feet landed at the soft rug, the little drops of water flowed down his back. Like a diver fished out of sea too quickly, Danny's body tightened and twisted. The little baby blue tiles spun and the grid's lines curved. His aching muscles screamed as he grasped the counter to keep from collapsing on the floor. After a while the fan on the ceiling inhaled all the steam and Danny was left on his own, staring at the naked blur of his skeletal body in the mirror, the white halo on the top of his head. Soon he found himself in his room, dazed and confused, staring at the tiny TV mumbling something he didn't try to understand.</p><p>He came up with a little lie: Sam had his hair dyed on a dare. A simple, totally believable thing stupid teenagers would do. He told this lie during dinner soon after. His parents didn't even notice the hair until his sister pointed out, as expected they shrugged over it, and Jazz, taking the role of the responsible one, reacted a little reprehensibly, but praised Sam's skills, white was hard to pull off, and it's preferable over the surfer bleached blond look she always scoffed at.</p><p>Off the hook, Danny slept soundly, a deep, dreamless sleep, a time travel to eight hours in the future when the dreadful ringing of his alarm pulled him off his rest like a crocodile snagging a helpless wildebeest into the water. He floated his way from bedroom to bathroom to bedroom to kitchen on autopilot, barely noticing his sister alone, writing on a notebook, her eyes glanced towards his hair for a second and back down.</p><p>“Mom and dad got the portal working” She said with no opinion on her voice.</p><p>Danny's sneakers landed on the floor, the heavy thud on linoleum floor reverberated, Jazz looked up for a bit, wondering if he had dropped something.</p><p>“They did? Huh...” He kept his back turned, hand reaching out for a plastic bowl that seemed impossible to grasp.</p><p>“Rather it got itself working, just overnight, they are trying to figure it out, so you know how things will go.” This time she sounded remorseful.</p><p>Danny's throat tightened as the cereal poured on the bowl. He grabbed the milk from the fridge, the carton slipped from his hand and exploded on the floor.</p><p>“Danny!” Jazz shouted, rushing towards a mop behind the wall.</p><p>Danny stood back, an apologetic and confused look in his face as he watched his older sister clean up his mess, “Sorry, I'm still a bit asleep.”</p><p>She kept him from going down the basement stairs, not wanting to be late for school and offered him a ride he couldn't, neither wanted to refuse. He grabbed his favorite cap before they left, the one with a little rocket logo he won at a space camp two years earlier, a bit tighter than it used to, but it hid most of the white out. Eventually he would have to take it off anyway.</p><p> </p><p>Jazz drove their normal, “civilian” car which didn't call any attention to itself, unlike the monstrous van their parents paraded around. “I'm warning you now, people are going to stare, and call names, but hey... you did this to yourself, right? Own it” she said as they parked.</p><p>Danny wasn't expecting any less, as he walked down the packed hallways, every other student would catch a glimpse of white and stop, grab their friends by the arm and whisper.</p><p>“Dude, what happened?” Tucker, the cool-geek boy approached him, adjusting his well framed glasses to make sure he was seeing right. Sam, the girl in all black head to toe, leaned closer too see.</p><p>“It's a...” Danny paused, during the car ride he felt entirely confident in telling his friends, but at that moment, face to face, no words and combination of words could properly explain what happened without causing some unwanted reaction.</p><p>Sam raised his cap just a little bit and a tuft of hair white as snow revealed itself.</p><p>“Remember the portal my parents were building?”</p><p>They nodded. Over his shoulder, people walked by and stared.</p><p>“So, I... uh.” His lips moved silently, practicing the words to come, “I was curious about it, so I got in, and kinda, like, electrocuted myself a bit.”</p><p>“What?” Sam shouted, more people stopped and stared. The murmuring was loud enough to travel across the hallway, soon it would reach the ears of the wrong people, Danny dreaded.</p><p>“Are you okay?”</p><p>“Did you go to a hospital?”</p><p>“No, no! I just got up and that was that.”</p><p>“Danny, as far as I know,” Sam started, “electrocution doesn't turn your hair white.”</p><p>“I didn't stuck a fork on a socket, Sam. I walked into a portal to another dimension, rules change.”</p><p>Sam had that unique expression she used only for the two dumb boys she hang with, “And I suppose you didn't tell your parents.”</p><p>With a cocky smile, Danny shook his head.</p><p>“Considering your parents,” Tucker intervened, “that's a smart decision.”</p><p>“Honestly,” Sam chuckled, “I can't argue with that. But seriously, do you feel anything weird?” She asked quietly.</p><p>“Nah, nothing out of the ordinary,” he lied, “I also told them you dyed it, on a dare.”</p><p>Their laugh eased the anxiety bubbling in Danny's stomach, but it didn't last long. He took his seat at the classroom quietly, sliding slightly under the table to make himself small, but everyone was staring. The English teacher, Mr. Lancer, looked over the class, his eyes fell straight on Danny's hat, “No hats in the classroom, Daniel” the balding man ordered. Hesitantly, Danny removed his hat, all heads turned to him, even the sun itself parted the clouds to look and point with its rays that shined from the window. His hair glowed under the sunlight like a neon sign, begging everyone to look. The class erupted in laughter.</p><p>“Who's this old fart?” Said the insufferable blonde jock in the back.</p><p>“What happened, Fenton? Your parents dropped a ghost on your head?”</p><p>“Enough, everyone. Get your books open.” Lancer intervened, but Danny noticed the odd look linger a bit before shifting towards the book on his hand.</p><p>Danny left class after class with a blank mind, only sure that he didn't fall asleep because no teacher reprimanded him, his notebooks had no evidence that he was ever there at all.</p><p>“At least it's meatloaf day!” Tucker cheered as they walked to the cafeteria.</p><p>“Ah, you're about to be surprised!” Sam laughed.</p><p> </p><p>And he was, in the worst way. Tucker glared at his plate, the slice of bread with a patch of sprouting grass was far from appetizing and possibly a public health offense.</p><p>“Ah, Ms Manson,” Mr. Lancer placed a hand on her shoulder, “the school board wanted me to personally thank you for ushering in this welcome experiment to our cafeteria” he said, but Danny noticed the malicious grin.</p><p>“I smell meat,” Tucker muttered, “Steak, medium rare, barbecue sauce, proximity: nearby” He spoke in monotone pauses like a robot reading a menu, leaning closer to Lancer who took a step away from the table.</p><p>“No, no. The rumors about the new all steak buffet at the teachers lounge are completely untrue,” he dismissed, pulling a toothpick from his pocket, at that point he was just rubbing it in, “Thanks again.” And in a flash he was gone.</p><p>“Yeah, thanks again for making us eat garbage, Sam.” Tucker scowled.</p><p>“It's not garbage, it's recyclable organic matter,” Sam stated with a smugness unique to her.</p><p>“It's garbage,” the boys responded in unison.</p><p>Tucker mowed the grass from his toast with a fork, “I can't believe you convinced the school board to change the menu! Why didn't you use that power of persuasion to, I don't know, redo the restrooms!”</p><p>“The restrooms wouldn't be so disgusting if the students' diets weren't so awful!”</p><p>“Cows eat this, have you ever seen and smelled cow dung?”</p><p>“And you eat cows, so?”</p><p>Danny had removed himself from the argument. He shuddered as what felt like an icicle ran down his spine and froze his insides along the way, he breathed out the cold and saw it dissipate before his eyes like in a winter's day.</p><p>And then, a gooey substance splattered on his hair.</p><p>“Fenton!” Screamed that shrill voice, he turned to see the guy that it belonged it huffing and puffing towards him. Danny was always amused at the great dissonance between the squeaky high pitch voice and the big oaf that it came from, fortunately though, as Dash would be an even bigger douche if he had a deep, manly voice.</p><p>“I ordered three mud pies and you know what they gave me? Three mud pies! With mud! From the ground!” He continued to yell, and the whole cafeteria stopped to watch. “All because of your girlfriend!” He glared at Sam.</p><p>“She's not my girlfriend!”</p><p>“I'm not his girlfriend!” Sam repeated.</p><p>The jock grabbed the smaller boy by the collar of his shirt and raised him up easily, “How am I supposed to play football if all I had for lunch is mud?”</p><p>“Actually is top soil, and it's very nutritious,” Sam corrected.</p><p>“Whatever.” He tossed Danny against the table, the boy winced at the sharp edge colliding against his ribs. Dash placed the plate of mud before him, grabbed his hair and held his head close to it, “Eat it, old man, or have you lost your teeth?”</p><p>Without a second choice, Danny picked the fork and stared at the disgusting goo, he wouldn't be surprised if a worm dug its way out of it. “All of it.” Dash leaned closer.</p><p>“Uh...” He grabbed the mud with his hand, feeling it squeezing between his fingers, “Garbage fight!” He yelled and tossed the goo between Dash's eyes.</p><p>The cafeteria went wild. Brown matter flew all over the place, splattering on students, leaving stains on the walls and the floor that looked like nasty accidents. Danny quickly ducked under the table, the unnatural cold once again settling in his throat. Tucker followed him.</p><p>“Why is it so cold in here?” Danny complained, crossing his arms tightly around his chest, hands rubbing the goosebumps away .</p><p>“I don't feel it,” Tucker said, wincing away from the grass shrapnel exploding nearby.</p><p>“It's not garbage! It's food! You're all wasting perfectly good, healthy food!” Sam continued to yell, standing on the table, miraculously untouched by the projectiles.</p><p>“This isn't meatloaf!” A grating, hoarse voice boomed across the cafeteria, immediately ceasing the food fight, from behind the buffet came a sickly green glow. A gigantic old woman appeared, dressed in the lunch ladies' uniform, her skin an ill shade of green, her white hair flowed like flames, her eyes were bulging, red with rage, she spoke through sharp teeth, “Who changed the menu?”</p><p>The entire student body, Tucker included, raised their fingers towards Sam, she stared at the lunch lady, wide eyed, frozen in place. “The menu has been the same for fifth years!” The giant shrieked, green fires burst from her body and formed a twisted vortex above her.</p><p>Immediately the students evacuated the room, pushing and shoving one another, slipping on mud and being trampled. Danny and Tucker quickly pulled a paralyzed Sam from the table and escaped amidst the chaos.</p><p>“Dude, that lunch lady is more pissed off than I am!” Tucker yelled as they ran towards the nearest exit. Somewhere the fire alarm had been triggered and the sprinklers further enhanced the absolute panic.</p><p>“I don't think that's a normal lunch lady!” Sam yelled back.</p><p>With the exit in sight, the students ran through the thin rain. A boom shook the school's structure, students faltered with the shockwave, many stumbled and slipped. The front of the pack halted and the middle collided and, like an accordion, the back followed.</p><p>The old lady arose from the floor, blocking the nearest exit with her broad body. She raised a glowing green hand and the lockers began to shake and burst open.</p><p>A group of screaming teachers rushed out from a room and collided against the students.</p><p>“Everybody back away!” Lancer yelled.</p><p>Meat floated out of the room. Steak, sausages, burgers, bacon. What could be Tucker's favorite dream soon turned into a nightmare as the food merged with each other around the lunch lady's hand, turning into a sluggish mass that shaped itself around it. The seemingly endless supply of meat grew further and further until it slowly began to encompass the entirety of the old lady's body, creating an armor of flesh.</p><p>Snapping out of their momentary shock, the kids and the staff began to run. With no exit in sight they poured themselves in whatever room was nearby like a flood.</p><p> </p><p>Danny and his friends climbed the stairs and shut themselves in with a small group of seniors at the history classroom. They quickly turned the lights off, shut the blinds, and crawled to any hiding spot they could find. Two distinct sirens blared in the distance, louder and louder.</p><p>“Danny!” Jazz walked to him, a cellphone to her ear. “He is here,” She spoke to the phone, “Please hurry!”</p><p>“Mom and dad?” Danny asked. She nodded. “You think this is a ghost?”</p><p>Jazz shrugged, years of her parents unwavering obsession speaking louder than family turned her into a bitter skeptic, rebelling in her most polite way by refusing to take part or showing any interest in the paranormal, but even in the dark room Danny saw the fear in her eyes.</p><p>“Damn, Sam. Do you regret doing what you did now?” Tucker scowled. Danny shook his head, a squabble was the last thing they needed.</p><p>“Regret trying to bring a healthy, balanced diet? One single day of the week? Just one!”</p><p>The seniors shushed them. One looked through the small window on the door. The green glow grew stronger followed by a sickly wet sound of flesh slithering past the room. Crouched uncomfortably under a desk, Danny felt the prickling ice crossing his body, and the smothering phantom weight pressing against him, keeping him grounded, he felt like the ancient piece of gum glued under the table, being squeezed in place for the rest of eternity. The sensation was foreign, and unbearable, he yearned to feel what he felt back in the shower, to disappear with the steam, to feel his body unbound, free from the confines of gravity.</p><p>He faltered as if stepping into a pond that was deeper than he expected, he looked down to see his left foot plunged into the floor. Danny yelped and tumbled, his foot pulled out easily. The students were quick to shush him.</p><p>“What's wrong?” Jazz asked from her hiding spot. Danny sighed, air never reaching his lungs, his eyes fixated on his shoe. “Danny?” She repeated.</p><p>“Nothing, thought I saw something” he dismissed.</p><p>“Don't worry, mom and dad are co-”</p><p>A muffled bang caught their attention. They winced at the frightening sound and instinct told them to duck.</p><p>“The police are here!” One student whispered.</p><p>“Can they even kill it?” Another asked.</p><p>As to answer, a second shot was fired, and another.</p><p>“Yeah, I don't think so.”</p><p>“What the hell is that thing?”</p><p>“Our parents are coming, maybe they can deal with it” Jazz announced.</p><p>“Your parents?” A red headed boy asked, “the ghost hunters? You're saying this is a ghost?”</p><p>“I guess we'll know soon.”</p><p>“This is all that girls fault.” A blonde girl pointed at Sam, “She's the one the ghost is angry at!”</p><p>The room glared at her, Sam stood defiant, as always, “My fault? How would I know the school's menu was haunted?”</p><p>“You shouldn't have changed in the first place” Tucker grunted under his breath.</p><p>“Maybe if we give her to the ghost, it will stop!” The girl suggested.</p><p>“What?” Sam shouted.</p><p>“Whoa, no one is getting sacrificed!” Jazz intervened.</p><p>“Sacrificed?”</p><p>“I think the thing is gone! Maybe we can make a run for it!” The red headed boy looked out of the door's window.</p><p>“What? No way, what if the police didn't kill it?” The girl asked.</p><p>Jazz's phone rang, she answered it immediately, “mom?” The room turned to her, “what's going on?”</p><p>A loud metallic crash deafened the answer.</p><p>“Mom, mom?” Jazz shouted, but all she got back was dial tone. The deep breath she took sent a wave of worry across the room, she noticed, “They got this, I'm sure of it... I think.” The hesitation failed to muster any confidence in the room.</p><p>“People are running!” The boy said, watching his fellow classmates crossing the hallways, “I'm going with them! No way I'm staying here, specially with her!” He glared quickly at Sam before making his getaway, the blonde girl and her friends followed before the door closed, leaving only the Danny, his sister and his friends, staring uneasily at each other.</p><p>Another loud explosion shook the school.</p><p>“Maybe we should leave too before this place collapses,” Tucker said by the door, a couple of students were walking down the corridor.</p><p>“We better be careful, that thing can go through the floor,” Jazz said, following Tucker.</p><p>The words lingered in Danny's mind, “that thing can go through the floor”, he stared at his left foot, the disorientating sensation prickling between his eyes like an incoming migraine, the floor felt uneven, he feared every step as they quietly walked down the hallway.</p><p>Ice. Danny froze. “Stop! She's nearby!” He warned, not entirely sure why.</p><p>The door closest to the stairs burst open, two students ran off screaming. A filthy wave of sludge followed and took a rounded shape the size of a child, two stubby legs and arms formed, holes opened on the “head”, green glowing eyes and mouth, a meaty jack-o-lantern, a second creature began forming soon after. The meat was starting to stink and gather grime.</p><p>“I think I gonna puke,” Sam gagged.</p><p>They pulled back when the little things rushed towards them, ground beef splashing with every step at a surprisingly quick pace. Jazz tried a door, locked. The little monster lunged towards Sam, body stretching like a cartoon. The second closed the gap, splitting the group. A thunderous growl echoed down the hallway, the lunch lady materialized herself before them, she rushed towards Sam, but a beam of blue light grazed past her shoulder, tearing a see-through hole, the ghost shrieked in pain.</p><p>Spotting a woman in blue rubber jumpsuit, armed with a strange rifle, Jazz waved her hand to catch her attention, then grabbed Sam's wrist and pulled her past a corner, out of the ghost's sight. Tucker took the opportunity to escape to the opposite side. Danny dodged a splash of green meat from the little ghosts and ran off after Tucker, but the boy had quickly disappeared.</p><p>As the lunch lady fought against the ghost hunter, her meaty minions chased Danny down the hallway. Running for his life, the feeling of weightlessness enveloped him, his legs no longer moved, instead he hovered at incredible speed down the hallway. Beckoned by their master, the minions stopped the chase and returned.</p><p>Danny took to the first door he saw to hide, bursting into the classroom and quickly shutting the door behind him. The two sole students hiding, a couple hugging each other close, screamed at the door, his classmates, Kwan and Valerie. Danny turned towards them and raised his hands as a sign of peace. A sudden dizziness blurred his vision, he stumbled and pushed a chair, Valerie yelled and hugged her partner tighter. Danny breathed in and out, noticing the persistent feeling that something was off, lightheadedness and a growing fever.</p><p>The sounds of the fight became just echoes of distant thunders.</p><p>He leaned against the teacher's table and bumped against a can of pencils and pens that landed on the floor. Valerie yelled again. Danny looked at her, she grasped at the Kwan's shirt, he had his arms shielding her, they stared in terror at the fallen can. Confused, Danny whispered a sorry that made her gasp. He crouched and reached out for a red pen, felt his fingers touch it, raised it, Danny stared at it floating in the air. She gasped again, a shivering sob.</p><p>Danny sat there, motionless, inspecting the floating pen, the pen that he could feel with the tips of his fingers, fingers that he couldn't see, attached to an invisible hand and an invisible arm to an invisible body, he looked at the way the sunlight refracted through, subtle distortions that moved with him.</p><p>He stood up and looked over his shoulder, the couple looked through him, teary eyes following the moving pen. It slipped from Danny's fingers and landed on the floor again. Shivering, crying, the couple were running out of the room before the pen stopped rolling.</p><p>Danny stood in the middle of the room like a glass statue, staring at the prism caused by his invisible hands, the tiny speckles of dust shuddered and faltered in their descent as if he blew them softly. He looked at his feet and realized he floated a few inches above the floor, noticing that, he flew even higher, above the tables. An exhilarating feeling washed over him. The chaos outside faded from his mind. Danny pulled his legs against his shoulder and leaned back, his body slowly dipped and he spun slowly, “like an astronaut” he thought, the broadest smile on his lips. It didn't scare him, he wasn't afraid of falling, it came more naturally than walking on his two feet, that needed to be taught. Floating, flying, the weightlessness was becoming part of him it seemed, the default. Kicking his legs, he pushed his body forward and twirled, dancing gracefully like an underwater ballet dancer bathing in the sunlight, he imagined classical music swaying with his every move.</p><p>Slowly, he gained control over his altitude. His toes touched the teacher's table and, as the song approached its crescendo, Danny rocket himself through the roof. He saw darkness and the insides of his school, a flash of blinding golden light and he soared to the pure blue of the sky. The ascending legato of the strings rested with a long reverberation, the drums rolled. Danny pierced a hole in the clouds and disappeared completely within the fog.</p><p>Time ceased to exist, he remained, above the clouds, closer to the place he spent his whole, short life wanting to reach. Arms wide open, he let himself fall. The rush of the wind pumping in his ears silenced any unwelcome, earthly thought and worry. The bubbling migraine faded away. The dizziness straightened out. The tight grasp of gravity broken.</p><p>Danny's descent was as soft and quiet as an autumn's leaf last seconds. He landed on a lonely clearing at the central park, only noticing that dusk had settled while traveling past the darkened woods, back to the bustling town, the sights and sounds set a spark to his temper. Crossing the street, he walked by a TV store, two familiar faces caught his attention: his parents standing proudly side by side, his father eagerly explaining to a reporter that seemed annoyed at his big hand clutching hers over the microphone. The TV was muted, but from their smiles and the headline “Ghosts hunters save school from ghost attack”, the crazed lunch lady was dealt with.</p><p>A surge of warmth spread over his body like the opening of a hot oven. He noticed a man passing by his side, shivering violently and complaining about a cold spell. Danny shook the heat off. He looked down on his body, still intangible.</p><p>The ghostly boy walked, or rather, floated unnoticed, carefree, arriving at his doorstep at the early hours of the night, he stood before it, staring at his hands, thinking material thoughts, focusing on the memory of his skin, the feeling of the ground under his feet. He opened his tightly shut eyes at the dull thud of landing after a jump, and felt the weight that strained his legs and hunched his shoulders. His hands where there again in all its fleshy glory and they reached out to open the door.</p><p>“Danny, what the hell?” His sister exclaimed right away. He halted, quickly searching for any missing limbs. “Where were you?”</p><p>Danny hoped his sister would fill the silence of his answer, she didn't, “I was chased down by one of those meat children so I just kept running.”</p><p>She wasn't convinced, “all day?”</p><p>“Actually, I didn't want to deal with everything after...” He shrugged, truth was told.</p><p>“Still, you should've called, I was dead worried.” She had a pitiful look on her face, but she understood, “Call your friends, they were worried too.”</p><p>Danny nodded. A loud hum coming from underneath the house caught his attention.</p><p>“So...” Jazz sighed, “mom and dad were right all along, who knew,” her voice had no enthusiasm, only defeat, “if they were barely here when no ghosts were around, now they are totally gone.”</p><p>Danny felt terrible, he sometimes missed his parents a lot, but his sister was the one that took the brunt of it, caring for him from an early age, and then dedicating all her time to help the students of their school. Danny wandered if she ever took a moment to worry about herself.</p><p>At the thought of sneaking downstairs, the needle in his skull prickled him, drawing blood. He winced, “I'm going to take a shower.”</p><p>“Don't stay there another hour again.”</p><p>Resisting the temptation was hard, but Danny just wasn't feeling it, steam did nothing for him, even the drops of water felt heavy and stung his back like tiny pebbles. He left the shower disappointed, too much ghosting for the day perhaps. He squeezed toothpaste on his toothbrush, wondering about his... powers... if he could call them that, comparing it to the lunch ladies bizarre meatmancy, could he do the same? Probably not.</p><p>He caught a glimpse of green in the mirror. His reflection stared at him, so unfamiliar, his once blues eyes glowed the same ill shade of green that surrounded the lunch lady, he blinked twice and it disappeared. He expected to be more spooked by it, instead he made a mental note to keep it in check, among another little and big things that exposed his abnormal state. He shall carry a tiny mirror then.</p><p>Ten minutes later he laid in bed, being scolded by his friends in a group call, Sam in particular. A foreign voice in his head refrained him from talking about his getaway flight. Exhaustion settled, too tired to listen to his friends talking about the aftermath and some obnoxious argument between the students over dietary concerns, he bid them goodnight. Having left all of his things at school, not doing homework was covered by a perfect excuse. His mattress felt stiffer than the night before, he twisted and turned, never finding a position that suited for more than a minute. As the minutes drifted by, his body built distance from the bed. Hovering quietly, Danny drifted to sleep, dreaming of clouds and stars.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The fear of being found / Being is bewildering</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>a bit of a slowburn for next chapter</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Part 1</p>
<p>The fear of being found.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Heavy limbs threw themselves out of the bed, pulling the torso they were connected to, and eventually the head dragged along. A thought lingered in Danny's head, a thought he couldn't make sense off, a pleasant dream he needed to recall, but would surely fade further with the day.</p>
<p>Downstairs, Danny looked down at the basement, mechanical sounds could be heard every now and then, his parents must've pulled an all nighter, hooked on their own adrenaline of being right all along. Danny considered checking out, see if he could discover something about the anomalies from yesterday. There was no denial: He was a ghost, of some sort. Dead by electrocution at the age of 14, now hovering around, being seen and unseen.</p>
<p>He stepped away to the kitchen. If some equipment at the lab exposed him, his parents simply wouldn't understand, having once stalked and harassed Jazz for an entire day over a malfunction on the equipment that detected her as a ghost (she didn't talk to them for a whole week after that).</p>
<p>He saw her by the kitchen, same as she ever was, fully engrossed on her work, a fruit salad instead of orange juice, “Good morning,” he muttered, she didn't raise her eyes, greeting him with a hum. After a while she closed her book, “sorry, I'm getting a lot of new people scheduling sessions after the attack.”</p>
<p>“It's alright...” He shrugged, “by the way, can I have one of your tiny mirror thingies?”</p>
<p>“Finally starting to care about your looks?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”</p>
<p>Time skipped in silence. She drove them to school. “Is that going to wash out?” She asked, glancing at his hair.</p>
<p>“Time will tell,” he said and chuckled. She shook her head, trying not to judge, but sometimes Danny didn't make sense.</p>
<p>She parked further than she was used to, with most of the parking lot occupied by vans of a cleaning company, Danny spotted the cleaners down the hallways every now and then, roughly scrubbing away the harsher stains and disinfecting every nook and cranny.</p>
<p>“The least they could've done was canceling the class,” Tucker complained, he handed Danny his backpack and placed the cap over the snow white hair.</p>
<p>“Thanks.” Danny smiled, leave it to his friends to have his back even after disappearing for a whole afternoon without warning. “Where's Sam?” Tucker's shrug had a bitter undertone, “You still mad at her?”</p>
<p>“Nah, I won anyway, menu returned to normal just in case.”</p>
<p>“The school was attacked by a malicious ghost and caused what seems like thousands of property damage, and according to Jazz, traumatized a bunch of students. No one won.”</p>
<p>“So much for saving money on healthy food.”</p>
<p>“Drop it, Tuck,” Danny spat, “She must be pretty upset about it. You could tell she was scared.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah, my bad.”</p>
<p>“Besides, I'm sure all the money went to the teacher's buffet.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, dude, how much meat did they have on that thing, the waste dude! The waste!”</p>
<p>“Just as wasted as the 'garbage fight' yesterday,” Sam interrupted.</p>
<p>“Can't waste garbage,” Tucker replied. Danny could feel the sharpness of the glares they threw at each other.</p>
<p>“Guys, c'mon...” He walked in.</p>
<p>“Fenton, my office, now.” Mr. Lancer walked by, not waiting for him to follow. With a helpless look in his face, Danny left his friend and follow the teacher / vice principal to his rather large office with old furniture and books piled everywhere. Two rolls of screens monitoring certain locations with cameras. Danny panicked, did Lancer see something he shouldn't? No, Danny was invisible the entire time. He didn't see the hallway he disappeared on the screens.</p>
<p>“I was told you started the food fight yesterday on the cafeteria,” Lancer said, leaning back on his big old chair that protested against his weight.</p>
<p>Danny sighed, did it even matter after all that happened? “Dash started it!”</p>
<p>“As the lead player of the football team, he's exempt from punishment, you on the other hand are not.” He then pointed to his head and Danny realized he had his cap on. He pulled it away and spotted Lancer's disapproval of his new look.</p>
<p>“That's ridiculous!” Danny immediately regretted his protest.</p>
<p>“He can't be pulled from his training routine, you on the other hand, don't seem to have much to do after school, considering you disappeared from roll call after yesterday's attack and you just can't wait a single extra second to rush off my classes when the bell rings.”</p>
<p>Danny lowered his head, despite his scruffy looks, the balding head and the beer gut, Lancer's words always hit hard and lately the teacher had developed some animosity toward him, at least Danny felt so.</p>
<p>(The perks of having a genius, over achieving sister and not living up to the expectations.)</p>
<p>On the very back of his mind, Danny thought of his forgotten dream, it took place at the school. Danny faced Lancer, the words “congratulations” formed in his mouth.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the real Lancer mentioned a sea of Cs.</p>
<p>And Danny wondered if it was another wishful dreaming, the kind he hated the most because he knew it would never come true, and he suspected things would only get worse now that he was, well... dead. He brushed the dreadful hindsight aside. From whatever Lancer was saying, Danny heard the “detention”, unknown to him he was floating ever so slightly and the word caused him to fall, he bounced on the chair and Lancer threw him a inquisitive look. Danny blinked and kept his hand from grabbing the mirror in his pocket.</p>
<p>“You heard me, Fenton?”</p>
<p>“Yes, sir. Detention.” He muttered, voice cracked.</p>
<p>For the first time since the day they met (by his sister's introduction) Lancer expression turn soft, “Is everything alright, Daniel? I know yesterday was quiet the day, specially for your parents.”</p>
<p>Danny was taken back by the question, he couldn't form the right words and Lancer noticed, the boy shrugged instead.</p>
<p>“Your sister got a lot on her plate right now, so if you need anyone to talk to, my door is open,” he offered with a smile.</p>
<p>“Uh, thanks.”</p>
<p>Kind, worried Lancer was scary, scary because Danny felt strangely safe, and a obscured part of his mind treated it as a threat, which further increased his anxiety, the fear of being found was becoming so familiar, so much louder. In last night's phone call he regretted having told his friends about the electrocution, he decided to keep the ghostly stuff a secret, no matter how much the confession lingered in his throat, threatening to expel itself out like bile.</p>
<p>“What's with the hair, if you don't mind me asking?”</p>
<p>“A dare...” He mumbled, “Don't like it?”</p>
<p>“I won't put down a teenager's desire of self expression, but...” He cleared his throat, “I supposed it's better than bleach blonde trend going around lately.” Danny smiled and nodded.</p>
<p>He left the office and headed for his first class of a day that already felt like it's been going forever. Gravity pulled him, his feet threatened to drift off at any moment, so he kept his eyes on them, missing the broad chest that blocked his way. Danny stumbled, two big hands grabbed his collar and shoved him against the lockers, a fist struck his stomach, he didn't feel air rushing off his lungs, but he did feel the piercing pain spread through his body.</p>
<p>“That's for the mud pie, Fenton,” the bully spat, “ but don't think this is over.”</p>
<p>The foreign voice ordered him to retaliate, but Dash was long gone. Danny collected himself miserably. His body vibrated from his chest to his extremities, the pain didn't linger nearly as long as it used to, the shock damped and absorbed by his body like a hydraulic device. He straightened his shirt and kept his eyes away from the insensitive spectators that lived for high school drama.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Class ended earlier, an announcement had the students gather at the gym, anything to break the monotony of class after class, even a possibly equally as boring speech or a cringy presentation felt welcomed.</p>
<p>“Dude, your parents are outside,” a classmate said. What little good mood Danny had left drained at once.</p>
<p>The gym crowded quickly, people rushed to sit at the bleachers with their friends, take the spaces further away for the opportunity to chit chat quietly. The A-listers, the popular and VIP had their pickings and the rest settled after. Danny joined Tucker and Sam at a rather good spot, off from the staff direct field of view. Danny felt ill at the sight of their parents in their suits and their equipment spread on a large table. Next to them were a police officer, Lancer and the principal whose name escaped Danny's mind. He spotted his sister's long red hair, as by sibling telepathy, she turned and spotted him too, she rolled her eyes and shook her head, Danny smiled and nodded. For all the crap she gave him, in moments like those Danny was glad not to be alone.</p>
<p>“This is Jack and Madeline Fenton,” Lancer introduced his parents and the chief of police, the latter went on and on about the previous day's attack, speaking about safety concerns, procedures in case it happened again, things that only the most dedicated students (Jazz) paid any attention too, meanwhile Lancer and the principal shushed anyone talking. Danny was impressed with his father's self control, waiting rather patiently with that ever present grin in his face, probably thinking how his presentation would blow this boring cop out of the water.</p>
<p>Soon enough his parents took the floor. Danny's fingers grasped the bleachers, keeping himself grounded, his body vibrated, he was sure he could float like a balloon at any moment, not a good thing when his parents entire arsenal are on display. They talked about the lunch lady, how they captured, what they used, his father's booming voice demanded attention, but the rifles and lasers and odd trinkets were enough to keep the students hooked. Danny was one of them, out of the sake of self preservation, he thought it would be a good idea to know what their parents are capable of, and it was a lot, all the traps caused Danny's stomach to tie itself into a tight knot.</p>
<p>“And this is how we detect ghosts before they manifest, the Fenton Finder!” Jack raised the handheld gadget with two weird antennas and a radar screen.</p>
<p>The device beeped, “A ghost is nearby,” said the robotic female voice.</p>
<p>“Oh!” Jack exclaimed, everyone in the room began to look around and try to spot it first. Jack follow the small radar bleep, stepping closer to Danny, the boy froze in place.</p>
<p>“The ghost is like, right in front of you, do something.” The gadget actually seemed to be annoyed Jack couldn't find it, it started to beep faster and louder, “It's right in front of you, moron. What are you waiting for? Blast it already.” The sassy tone shined even with a monotone voice.</p>
<p>The students began to grow uneasy, Jack couldn't reach his son, but he extended his arm as far as possible over all the weirded out students below as they started to raise from their seats. He aimed it straight towards Danny.</p>
<p>“Danny-o, hiding any ghost there, son?”</p>
<p>The school turned towards the boy.</p>
<p>“Uh, no?” Danny stuttered.</p>
<p>“Maybe you touched or came in contact with a contaminated object at home, dear?” His mother insisted. The students whispered their “ews” and “gross”. Danny looked down and pulled his cap over his eyes, the shame and embarrassment added to his intense anxiety.</p>
<p>“Mom,” Jazz interrupted, she raised her arms, “You're doing that thing again!”</p>
<p>Madeline noticed the growing anger in her daughter's voice, they made that mistake before and she felt like an absolute awful mother for months later. She laid a hand on her husband's back, chuckling awkwardly, “Well, this is a new gadget, everyone, we're still calibrating it.”</p>
<p>Danny's body was in high alert, he picked the mirror from his pocket and saw the green flash from his eyes, he pulled his hat down and noticed the tip of his pinky finger was invisible, he shoved his hand on his pocket. Anyone looking at his strange behavior would just dismiss it as embarrassment as his parents went onto more esoteric stuff that got the students whispering to each other and snickering.</p>
<p>“Danny, are you alright?” Sam laid a hand on his shoulder, static sparked her fingers, she pulled away quickly, “Ow. What the-”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I'm alright, just...” He sighed, Sam understood, her hand hovered over him, before pulling away and settling on her lap.</p>
<p>He saw Jazz moving on her seat, catching her mother's attention, her gestures told the matriarch to end their speech, thankfully she was more sensitive and sensible than her husband and wrapped it up soon after.</p>
<p>The second Lancer gave permission to leave, Danny bolted out of his seat, crossed swiftly through the hoard of students just as eager to get out, as he got to the gym's door he rushed off to the nearest restroom. He pushed the door, but his body phased right past it. He looked at himself - or where he should've been - in the mirror. The relief of intangibility did little to soothe the panic, the negativity, and the wave of exhaustion from keeping his body in check against such strong emotions, from fighting the primal fight or flight instinct when his own father pointed the radar at him. He felt his body humming, willing it to materialize would be impossible at such frail state of mind. With a bit of struggle to turn the faucet on, Danny watched the water hopelessly pass through his hands, but he remained there until it did.</p>
<p>A minute later, two boys entered the room, laughing.</p>
<p>“And what was that about contaminated stuff? That's gross!”</p>
<p>They stopped before the urinals to relieve themselves.</p>
<p>“Dude, no wonder their son is a freak. Bet his weird white hair is contaminated”</p>
<p>“Yeah! His sister seems normal though.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, she is kinda cute, but she's probably one of those that turns into a crazy stalker if you break up with her.”</p>
<p>They laughed. Danny trembled, the refracted light got so strong that it became visible, like looking through a glass smashed into thousands of microscopic pieces. A cold furnace formed within him, spreading from his center, he could physically feel its heaviness where his heart should be. The light bulbs vibrated and flickered, threatening to explode. He turned towards the boys relieving themselves. Hands reached out towards the one that insulted his sister, grabbed him by his shoulder, the boy yelped, and spun towards his friend, spilling urine all over them.</p>
<p>“Dude? What the hell?” The boy screamed and pulled away, back hitting the wall. “Gross, what the hell?” He gagged.</p>
<p>Danny's victim fumbled, struggling with the sudden dizziness of an electric shock. He slipped on his own urine, and slid down the stall wall, numbed legs collapsed on the filthy floor.</p>
<p>“What the-” The other boy gasped, Danny looked at him glaring at the ghost's direction, noticing the strange light anomaly floating besides his fallen friend. Danny stepped back and disappeared into the stall. With guilt forming a lump in his throat, he phased out of the room to a small office next door.</p>
<p>He stood motionless in the middle of the room. His own behavior scared him, the way his body acted on behalf of the anger that consumed him. The boy's yells ran down the hallway outside, calling for help. Danny couldn't bring himself to go back. He phased to the floor above and waited the longest time for his body (and all the discomfort attached to it) to return to normal.</p>
<p>The bell rang, lunch was being served. Danny's lack of appetite surprised him, ghosts don't eat, he knew that already, but the little things were going to pile up, his routine, his behavior were bound to change even more, his guts warned, and he needed to make sure no one would notice.</p>
<p>He left the room and made his way to the cafeteria where his friends awaited with question marks above their heads.</p>
<p>“All good?” Tucker asked, trying to remain neutral, he knew Danny's parents were a sensitive topic.</p>
<p>Danny took a seat next to him and rested his head on his hand, “Eh.”</p>
<p>“Your parents are still in the building, by the way,” Sam said, “Some guy showed up screaming that some invisible thing attacked him and his friend on the restroom.”</p>
<p>“Oh?” Danny's voice cracked at the attempted to mask his panic.</p>
<p>“Nah, they just pissed themselves and had to make up a excuse,” Tucker said and laughed.</p>
<p>Danny attempted to laugh with him, but the memory of the boy's flailing body and the fright on his friend's face made it difficult. The ghost wanted to make them piss each other, not electrocute the poor kid.</p>
<p>“Tucker,” Sam stopped, “The guy had a convulsion.”</p>
<p>Damn.</p>
<p>“Oh, what?” Tucker's smile disappeared.</p>
<p>“Saw some teachers taking him to the infirmary.”</p>
<p>“Is he alright?” Danny asked louder than he should've. She shrugged. He felt ill.</p>
<p>“You're not eating?” Sam asked, Danny kept his unfocused gaze on the table, “Danny?”</p>
<p>He snapped out of his trance, “What?”</p>
<p>“Are you okay? You're not eating.”</p>
<p>Danny felt grateful for her concerns, he looked at her and considered coming clean, but not after what he had done, “Sorry, thinking about detention today.”</p>
<p>“Lancer gave you detention?” She hissed, “after all that happened yesterday?”</p>
<p>Danny shrugged, “I don't think he likes me very much.”</p>
<p>“Let me guess, Dash walked away free?”</p>
<p>“Can't interfere with the school star's rigorous training routine.”</p>
<p>“Typical.” Sam scoffed and rolled her eyes, it reminded him of Jazz and her scorn at the school's preference on sports over anything more intellectually inclined, all for the sake of reputation, “for all his smart talk, Lancer can be a major hypocrite.”</p>
<p>Danny nodded, though he knew Lancer supported his sister wholeheartedly, maybe it was Danny's fault for not exceeding at anything at all, but not for the lack of trying, and he wished Lancer could see that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The teacher sat at his table, going through papers separated in neat piles, Lancer always looked tired, or maybe he just had one of those faces, probably both. Of all the professions, teacher sat on the very bottom of Danny's list of things to be when he grew up, if he ever did. He though of ghost children from horror movies, stuck on their tiny bodies for centuries. He's stomach churned, would he ever age at all? Change? How awful would it be to be stuck at this boring, hormonal stage of life? See all his friends and family grow up and go on, how could he explain why he remained the same? It seemed it was only a matter of time before the world find out.</p>
<p>Danny would puke if he could. Suddenly flying and all that didn't seem like a good trade off against a normal life, something he would've never say just three days earlier. How quickly life can change. Maybe he would fly off and haunt a space station. Yes, he settled, that was his end game.</p>
<p>He looked at the room, three other despondent students tried to occupy themselves. Danny realized that maybe none of this mattered to him anymore and it filled him with a conflicted range of emotions, but they could all be summed into one: Melancholy. One of Danny's favorite words.</p>
<p>As they left, Lancer beckoned him, “Is everything alright, Daniel? You looked troubled on your seat?” His voice was soft and caring.</p>
<p>“I'm fine, just thinking,” Danny spoke in whispers.</p>
<p>“Detention does that to you,” Lancer joked, “Are you upset about today? With your parents' speech?” Lancer was the only one besides his sister that could see through him even when Danny wasn't a ghost. Sam and Tucker could sense when he was feeling off, but Jazz and Lancer could tell when the boy was confused, or distracted, or upset. That vulnerability started to nag him more than ever. Ghosts didn't like to be seem, it seemed.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I guess,” he mumbled, “I've never seem all their stuff just laid out like that.”</p>
<p>“Does it scare you?”</p>
<p>Utterly.</p>
<p>“No, it's just... weird, I guess...”</p>
<p>Lancer sensed Danny was not willing to talk. “I suppose it is, quiet an unusual profession. But I wouldn't worry about it, they would never hurt you.” He paused, “Right?”</p>
<p>The question took Danny by surprise, maybe he knew about Jazz's incident, or maybe he was just that keen, “Right.”</p>
<p>He nodded and returned to his papers, “Well then, I'll see you tomorrow, Danny. Don't forget your homework this time, alright?”</p>
<p>Danny nodded, “I won't, sir.” Lancer didn't hear his steps as he left.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His house was empty, no one above or below. He floated about like a lonely haunting, wailing “boo” noises to amuse himself before settling in by the TV, floating gently above the sofa, watching some obnoxious cartoon about wish-granting fairies.</p>
<p>He received a text from Jazz saying she would be coming home later that night, too busy treating her “clients”, and that he should order pizza if he wanted, mom and dad were out patrolling or whatever. Finally alone, an idea popped in his head.</p>
<p>He found himself entering his parents' lab. The metallic room was entirely alien to the rest of the house, a perfect set for a sci-fi movie with all its strange machinery and cold atmosphere. His eyes drifted towards the green that glowed stronger against the hues of blue, he stood before the portal, a swirling mass of a floating, foamy goo he knew was ectoplasm. Beside it was a table with an empty rodent cage, some trinkets he didn't know, and a clipboard.</p>
<p>“Ghost zone” was the title. He went down a list “Rodent tests failed, flora tests failed, no organic life supported.” Danny looked at the empty cage with pity. He continued, “ghost finder signal too weak for accurate results, equipment suffered slight internal damage upon return.” He put the clipboard down and looked back at the portal, at the gentle hypnotizing spiral, marveling at how the ectoplasm moved like thick clouds, splitting and melding and dissolving. Danny stood right at the edge, sneakers touching the black and yellow danger line, and felt the prickling static as little speckles of ectoplasm disappeared in his body, the sensation similar to placing a hand against a TV screen. He raised his hand and touched the swirl with the same consistency of a slushy, but acted like cigarette smoke. Danny watched the odd mass swirl around his hand and glow, he realized he had control over it. He raised his hand and stretched his arms, it followed like a ribbon from the gymnastics competitions he saw on TV. He played around with it, trying to see if he could do some of the moves the athletes did, the more he moved the more it glowed, until it began to dissolve and finally disappear. He laughed, if haunting a space station didn't work, perhaps he could join the circus with all the other freaks.</p>
<p>Heavy steps from above startled him, no doubt his father's. Danny focused and lifted himself to touch the ceiling, palming the cold metal until his fingers phased through it. The door opened as his arm turned invisible, his father's enthusiastic voice deafened the machinery's hum. Danny pushed himself out of the room before the big man reached the end of the stairs, entirely oblivious.</p>
<p>For the next half an hour or so, Danny panicked in his room, having entirely forgotten the possibility of surveillance mounted at every corner of the lab. He watched the door, expecting his parents to burst through at any moment with giant guns and nets, obliterating him on sight, or worse: capturing him for analysis. Danny knew they weren't above it, Jazz's horrible experience was the proof, they would not stop if they suspected their son was replaced, or possessed by a ghost.</p>
<p>
  <span> Would they stop if they discovered Danny </span>
  <span>
    <em>was</em>
  </span>
  <span> a ghost? Would it be too late when they did?</span>
</p>
<p>Danny jumped at the knock on the door. Jazz's voice called to him.</p>
<p>He took a glance in the mirror, checked for anything out of the human ordinary, then opened the door slightly. “Yeah?”</p>
<p>“Hey.” She looked at him with her parental concern, “Have you eaten?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>“Lancer said you were at detention. Why did you start the food war yesterday?”</p>
<p>Danny really was so over all that, he rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, “I didn't start it, but they needed a escape goat, and who better than miserable old me, right?” The look on her face made him regret his word choice, “Whatever, I'm sleepy. Goodnight.”</p>
<p>He closed the door before her and locked it out of habit. Bored and impatient, he looked at clock and bemoaned at the early hour. A quick scan around his bedroom didn't reveal anything interesting to do. Homework was out of the question, he would copy it from someone before class. There was nothing on TV. He didn't feel like socializing with his friends. Danny's body gave him a suggestion by lifting him up to the ceiling. He smiled and boosted himself out of the house and into the hazy twilight sky in the shades of reds, blues and purples, the divide between the dying sunlight and the glowing moon.</p>
<p>From above the city turned into colorful dots, Danny watched the cars driving by the highway like little glowing ants in an ant farm. Amity Park looked better from above, with some distant in between. So Danny stayed and stared, counting the cars like sheep, the repetitive humming sound lulled him, he began to lose altitude and floated down like a descending balloon, returning home at nighttime after a long, relaxing trip.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Part 2</p>
<p>Being is bewildering.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Danny's teeth tore a piece of a massive cheeseburger soaked in cheddar cream and munching it eagerly. “This tastes like death,” He thought, he should know, “I love it.”</p>
<p>Friday night in a packed nasty burger. Danny sat next to Sam and her large soda and a larger portion of crispy onion rings, the only thing on the menu she ate. Across the table Tucker had more food than both of them.</p>
<p>The girls on the booth behind were lip-syncing to a pop song about being a rich girl playing from the cheap speakers, on the other side the basketball team tossed crumpled napkins at a bin on the opposite wall. Danny wondered why they would come to the place where their entire school hung out, since he spent most his days time trying to avoid them. A slurp of his creamy milkshake answered the question, he hummed with delight, glad to still be able to eat human food.</p>
<p>Tucker shoved a handful of fries on his mouth and slumped on his seat, “ and man,” he continued on his rant, still upset that his favorite trilogy ended terribly “that fight with the guy with the metal armor on the arm? What the hell was that? Like? Those swords looked so cheap!” he wiped the salt from his lips, “like, what happened?”</p>
<p>“I don't know, his vampire form was pretty cool though...” Sam weighted in.</p>
<p>“Yeah, too bad all it did was toss a ragdoll of Blade around.” He huffed. Danny tried not to laugh, the only things that bothered Tucker that much were food, movies and video games.</p>
<p>“The del Toro one was so much better,” Sam said.</p>
<p>“I still like the first one more,” Tucker said, “that Y2K aesthetic?” He mimicked a chef's kiss.</p>
<p>“By the way you guys should come around tomorrow,” she said, “maybe there will be some left overs from the stupid party.” Tucker hummed with delight, his stomach was bottomless.</p>
<p>They finished their meals, Sam had to leave soon, and Tucker refused to pay the fee to use the restroom. “I wouldn't go in there even if it was free,” Danny added. Outside the fast food joint they said their goodbyes and split up. The cool night breeze was a nice relief from the grease that the building seemed to sweat out. He walked down the crowded street, Friday night was booming and he loved it, even if their plans of spending the night at Sam's house were ruined by her overzealous parents, terrified of having their daughter's peasant friends near their prestigious guests, he was partly glad, still wary of losing control of his “powers” while sleeping and frightening his friends to their own deaths.</p>
<p>Lost in his thoughts, Danny didn't see the group that surrounded him until he was pushed around like a pinball, “gotcha Fenton!” That dreadful high pitched voice spoke.</p>
<p>“Maybe we shouldn't be pushing an old man around on the street,” the jock with the shaved head mocked and slapped the back of Danny's head. “Maybe it's a wig!” Dash pulled him roughly by his hair and tossed him on the pavement, Danny tripped, the skin on his palms torn open on the concrete. He managed to recover quickly and took the chance to run. Knowing well he couldn't outrun football players, Danny strafed towards a narrow, trash filled alley, but they continued to chase him. A sharp turn, Danny fell out of their sights and pulled all his will on that relieving sensation of intangibility.</p>
<p>The walls that surrounded him opened wide, the air rushed past him. Danny saw the jocks from above and smiled at their confusion. Dash ordered them to continue the search as one complained about a piece of gum stuck to his shoes. The lengths they would go to make someone miserable. The blonde walked back, Danny followed the back of his head. His finger sparkled at the thought of reaching out and doing whatever he did to the poor boy in the school's restroom, this time without any guilt.</p>
<p>Dash deserved it, the foreign voice spoke, for all the lingering pain, the visits to the school nurse that went unnoticed by the staff, all the lost nights crying, wondering what was wrong with him? What had he done to be treated that way?</p>
<p>As all those painful memories flashed by, the sounds of the city muffled, his vision tunneled, only Dash remained in his sight. Danny's hands reached for the jock's letterman jacket, wrapping themselves around Dash's neck, the body stiffed under the phantom's touch, all the air expelling from his lungs in a horrifying gasp. Danny wished he could see the terror on the idiot's face, he squeezed the neck ever so slightly earning a silent shout that grew into a raspy shriek that barely left the alley. Phantom could sense his energy overwhelm the jock in every fiber of his being.</p>
<p>But what goes around comes around. Danny felt a bigger hand clawing at and clenching his body, pulling him away abruptly. His hands slipped from Dash's throat, the boy plummeted on the pavement like an abandoned puppet, limp and unconscious.</p>
<p>Danny was yanked backwards, propelled past the wall and into an empty office building, then dropped like a kitten on the carpet floor. His vision shook and doubled, a white silhouette towered him, taking shape as he focused. Danny yelped. Before him stood a tall man dressed in a pure white overcoat, black tie and a black fedora outlined by a faint, thin white glow, but what startled Danny the most was his skull-like face, not quite made of bone, but something ethereal. From his eye sockets two green orbs stared down at him disapprovingly. He looked like he had just stepped out of a noir movie, a grim one.</p>
<p>“Well, well. Who's this little punk?” The ghost's smooth and controlled voice reached within the smaller ghost's core. Danny crawled away and hit the wall, his powers failing to trigger. Like in a crime scene, the noir ghost squatted before him, inspecting Danny from head to toe, the room seemed to compress around him. “Don't think I've seen you before.” He waited for Danny to say something, or just to drill him slowly. After an acute silence he continued, “Let me introduce myself.” He stood up and straightened his collar, “name's Walker, I'm in charge of keeping ghost such as yourself from getting out of line,” he held his hands behind his back, “and what you were doing to that young man outside, that's getting out of line.” the methodical way of his delivery spelled trouble for Danny.</p>
<p>For the first time since the accident, Danny felt what it seemed to be his heart pumping fiercely, a severe reaction unmatched even by the lunch lady's attack. Walker seemed to notice as he kept observing Danny and the dim green glow emanating from the boy growing stronger. The rush of adrenaline gave way to foolish courage, “He deserved it,” Danny spat.</p>
<p>“Unfinished business, huh?” Walker shook his head, “You could've fried the poor bastard.”</p>
<p>“So be it.” Danny growled with angry resolve in his eyes and rushed towards the door, Walker flashed before him, he staggered and spun around, going for the window. A blast on his back toppled him down, Danny hit the ground hard, the blast felt like a bad sunburn. He turned to the man, whimpering, raising his hand to shield himself. Somehow, Danny could see pity on the pair of glowing orbs and on the way the man shook his head again, Danny felt pathetic, bullied even by ghosts.</p>
<p>“I'll let it slide this time, newborn, but you let that rage unchecked and it will consume you, if the time comes I'll be there, and I won't give you a second chance.” He walked towards a door, “You don't want to know where the ghosts I sentence end up.”</p>
<p>And he disappeared, leaving Danny coming down from his fear, with too much energy unspent, “Once again, Dash got you busted,” the voice spoke. Danny growled, his glow lit up the dark office. He rocket himself out of the room towards the night sky, his anger reached its boiling point and he screamed until his throat gave in.</p>
<p>If that self aggrandizing ghost only knew.</p>
<p>He let the wind carry him across the city's buildings, catching a glimpse of himself against the reflection of black tinted windows, a cloud of tiny crystals shimmering the light from below. He made no effort to conceal himself, just kept going, rage cooling off with the tunneling rush of the wind, observing the city from a different perspective, thinking about what the white ghost said. Where do ghosts go? Was the place he mentioned hell? He didn't make it sound pleasant. He watched the people down below, how many other ghosts were around like him? Walking dead. Unsure of what to do, where to go. Was he supposed to move on? Is he breaking any rule by staying? Despite the last few days, he still felt alive, just in a different way.</p>
<p>The cars stopped and moved aside to make way to an ambulance. Danny broke his stroll and followed it back to the alley. He spotted Kwan kneeling on the ground, Dash's head resting on his legs, the blond was pale, his usually slicked back hair all messed up, his eyes were open wide, he mumbled and yelped as if he was having a nightmare, Kwan and another guy held him to keep him from hurting himself. The rest of the group that attacked Danny surrounded them, one waved to the ambulance. It stopped in front of the alley and the paramedics rushed over.</p>
<p>Danny watched it unfold from above, they looked so small, different, it sort of reminded him of that violent video game Tucker's parents once caught them playing and scolded them for days. From that height their expression couldn't be seen clearly, Danny felt distant from the situation, not sad, not regretful, not happy, he felt nothing.</p>
<p>They tied Dash to a stretcher and carried him away, Kwan looked up for a brief second and Danny, seeing the worry on his face, actually felt bad, if only for him, who got into the ambulance to accompany his closest friend. He pictured Tucker on a similar situation, how would he react? Danny was already dead anyway.</p>
<p>He spotted his friend's house at the edges of downtown, right before the more affluent suburbs started, where Sam lived. Amity Park was both small enough for drastic changes of scenery to happen in such small distances, and big enough to have them.</p>
<p>He floated down to the window he knew was his friend's bedroom, the small opening on the curtain compelled him, he leaned closer to look, the back of his neck burning up with guilt. The room was dark, save from the cool light of the boy's computer screen, and the dull glow of moving bubbles in a lava lamp on the corner. Danny watched the series of windows on the screen with numbers and lines, Tucker was coding, something that Danny just couldn't get his head into, despite his most genuine attempts, but for Tucker it was a second language. He observed his friend, not out of curiosity or malice, but out of fondness, he was his first friend and stood by him despite his social standing at school, despite Danny's lack of understanding of his interests.</p>
<p>The ghost backed away when his friend stood up to stretch. Danny floated away, the strange weight he felt in his chest lightened, he soared with ease, gliding quickly through the streets, wind rumbling in his ears, until he arrived at another house, past the tall gates and walls, and fancy parked car, and the big garden with grass as green as ectoplasm. He watched with little interest the pompous adults gathering at the opulent living room, and continued until he spotted the one he looked for.</p>
<p>Sam was dressed in a cream colored dress, her make-up lighter and pinkish, she could've been mistaken for someone else if it wasn't for her typical scowl. She lounged at a big leather couch, two little kids sat on the floor before her, they watched an animated movie on the TV.</p>
<p>Watching her, the rock lodged in his chest became nearly weightless. His feeling towards the girl once confused him plenty, platonic and romantic intertwined into a frustrating debate that kept him from properly approaching for days. He couldn't put what he had with her at risk gambling on uncertain feelings. Just to be with her was enough. More than enough.</p>
<p>“What's that?” The little girl pointed at him, not in fear, but with childish wonder. Danny flew away before Sam and the little boy looked up.</p>
<p>Deep into the expanding night, Danny continued his aimless journey, sliding through the city in high speed, watching it like he would watch late night television, with no particular interest. He spied a young woman at a balcony speaking tenderly on the phone. An ill looking man smashing the buttons on his video gaming controller. An elderly woman sleeping on an arm chair by the bright TV. A daughter slamming the door at her father complaining about her tiny skirt. A man crying alone at a table set for two. A mother feeding her baby by the crib. He stumbled upon a passionate couple in their private moment and watched it for longer than he wanted to admit, before moving on.</p>
<p>He phased into the hottest club in the city, the one all his seniors bragged about getting in with fake IDs. He lingered above the mad crowd, dancing like panting monkeys to a freakish, idiosyncratic beat that blasted at full volume from the trembling speakers. The strobe lights bounced from his ghostly body like a disco ball, the green laser crossed his chest, creating a round prism that reflected it out tenfold . The crowd yelled and cheered, mistaking him with some fancy lighting set up. He obliged them by twirling, rolling and reeling, creating all kinds of mesmerizing effects until he tired himself out.</p>
<p>He left the club with a smile. Another one to the list of professions he could try. He continued down the streets until he gasped a freezing cold breath. Trouble was nearby. Needless to say, screams sounded below and a car hit the breaks as the crowd of a bar emptied the place, followed by two ghosts the shape of octopuses that smashed the front windows with their extending tentacles that reached out to grab the fleeing patrons. One caught a man, wrapped itself around his waist and tossed him in the air. Danny rushed in and caught the man by his legs, their were both surprised for different reason, Danny was surprised at his strength and actually being able to catch the guy, and the man himself, floating upside down midair, panicked and kicked his legs. Danny fumbled to bring him to the ground.</p>
<p>Meanwhile the octopuses continued their chaos. The street was paralyzed as cars after cars crashed against each other and the drivers left as the creatures smashed their tentacles around. “Where's Walker now?” Danny thought as he settled the man down awkwardly, he ran off immediately, “You're welcome,” Danny mumbled.</p>
<p>A tentacle smacked him hard, he collided against the wall and felt his body flicker. He recovered quickly, wide eyes glanced at the smashed wall, exposed bricks falling into pieces. His body was only sore where it should've been incapacitated. He also noticed said body was visible. Looking around, no one seemed to have noticed, too busy running from the creatures tumbling down cars and trapping people. He pulled his hood over his head.</p>
<p>He heard the strangled yell of a familiar voice. Lancer crawled out of his car as a tentacle came crashing down. Danny bolted towards him and pushed him in a way that Dash, the quarterback, would be jealous of. Lancer gasped for air and winced from the pain. Terrified, he watched the hood of his car being crushed over the seats with the power of the impact, he searched for his savior, catching a glimpse of a hooded person running off and disappearing in thin air.</p>
<p>Danny seemed to have pissed off the octopuses, as they refrained from further chaos to chase the little hero. They maneuvered themselves quickly around the streets with the help of the elastic tentacles, and caught up with Danny nearly five blocks away, surrounding him, forcing the boy to evade through a parking lot that proved to have no other exits.</p>
<p>He swiftly dodged the whipping tentacles, triggering the alarms of every other car they hit. With his invisibility seemingly useless, Danny tried to just fly away before being swatted down, forming a small crater. He cringed through the pain. Four nasty tentacles enveloped him and squeezed hard. In the panic, Danny tried his best to phase away, feeling his body vibrate, spark like a faulty lighter. He shut his eyes, the pain becoming unbearable.</p>
<p>Suddenly, an explosion flashed so bright that he could see even with eyes closed. The tentacles unraveled, Danny fell. He expected to open his eyes and see one of his parents standing before him with a smoking gun.</p>
<p>“Yer getting yourself in quite the trouble tonight, newborn,” said that husky voice in a more friendly tone than before. Danny opened his eyes to see the noir detective ghost standing before him, the octopus ghost five times smaller (the size of an actual octopus), hanging like a sad sack from his big gloved hand. Whatever Danny was about to say was interrupted by a hiss of pain as he got back on his feet, but he tried to keep his pride, standing with his chest puffed. “But I saw what you did, saving that human from getting crushed,” he continued, “very noble of you, dumb, but noble.”</p>
<p>“You saw that? And you didn't help? Even when they chased me down?” Danny gasped.</p>
<p>He chuckled loudly, his voice boomed like Danny's father's, but with even more tenacity than his mother. “I supposed I wanted you to learn how it feels to be helpless.” Danny scowled. A loud crash muffled the chorus of distant sirens. Walker looked over his shoulder, “Now if you excuse me, I have another octopus to fish.”</p>
<p>Walker and his victim disappeared in a flash. Danny slouched, groaning from the pent up pain. He walked to the street, hoping to see Walker fighting, but he was long gone. In the distance, Danny could see the flashing lights of the police and ambulances, the silhouette of vans of reporters and probably his parents. Wanting to distance himself from the mess, Danny walked on the opposite direction, noticing how odd it felt after all the flying. Sluggish, tiresome.</p>
<p>His phone beeped while he sat on the granite counter of a sushi bar, he made his order (and considered ordering a plate of squid), and grabbed the phone from his pocket, thankful that the little thing survived the octopus tight embrace. He flipped it open, the handle was flimsy after the fight, Danny felt the same.</p>
<p>Jazz asked him if he was where he was supposed to be: Sam's house. He lied and confirmed, slipping a little “why?” to look more inconspicuous. He watched the chef handle a savory slice of fresh salmon with sharp expertise, Danny hoped one day he could be just as good at something. Jazz's reply was what he expected, a ghost attack downtown, their parents went after. Danny replied with a “Oh” and a surprised face emoticon.</p>
<p>The tiny TV on the corner showed the aerial image of the incident, intercut with witnesses interview, scared citizens telling tales of terror. He spotted Lancer on the background, a look of distress as he stood by his unfortunate car. Danny looked away when his parents appeared, poking the soft flesh of his sashimi, wondering if he still had flesh under his skin, before plunging it in soy sauce, wishing Tucker was next to him, ranting about the proper way to eat Japanese food.</p>
<p>The clock on the wall pointed at 2AM. He didn't feel tired at all. He chuckled, did he even needed to sleep at all? His insomnia could finally become eternal, it was only a matter of time.</p>
<p>He continued wandering through the ghost city, through empty streets, following night owls returning home to rest. The hours went by and the sun began to crawl along the streets and buildings. Amity Park began to wake up to a lazy Saturday morning. On top of the tallest building, he watched the mist fade, the city revealed itself before his very eyes. The woods and mountains on the horizon took shape with the sunlight that attempted in vain to warm him up, but the sensation of life against his skin was welcomed nonetheless.</p>
<p>Danny was overwhelmed by a profound sense of peace.</p>
<p>He knew the feeling wouldn't last and that he could leave if he wanted.</p>
<p>Despite it all, he chose to stay, just a little more.</p>
<p>Just being is bewildering.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>i merged 2 chapters together cause they were too short. chapter 3 might take a bit longer, not very satisfied with it</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Half Life</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Danny watched Tucker devour a pink cupcake like an apex predator. The boys sat next to Sam on the giant couch in her living room. The news on the TV continued to report about the previous night's ghost attack, Danny had enough of the whole thing, but his friends were curious, these ghosts attack reports seemed to rake in audiences as they were always drawn out, redundant and conspiratory.</p>
<p>“Those tentacles look disgusting,” Sam said. Danny nodded, they were.</p>
<p>“You just have to fry them,” Tucker teased the vegan girl.</p>
<p>Danny remained quiet, arguing in his head on rather spilling it all out or not. He thought of withholding the sordid details, despite knowing his clever friends would eventually figure it out, and if he kept it going any longer the worse it would be if they found out on their own or if his secrets piled up and led to suspicion and misunderstandings, Danny wasn't the most open book of the trio -mostly because he was also the least interesting-, his silence didn't go unnoticed, they (mostly Sam) asked brief questions and threw curious glances at his odd behavior and the distancing, disappearing or seemingly lost inside his head for long periods of time.</p>
<p>Sam's parents were out, they had the house for themselves, he braced himself. “Guys, I-” He choked.</p>
<p>“Y'all ate the marshmallows already?” Tucker interrupted.</p>
<p>“No, you did, dummy,” Sam laughed.</p>
<p>“Guys...”</p>
<p>“Nah, I was saving them for last.”</p>
<p>“The bowl is all the way over there!” Sam extended her arms to the bowl across the sofa next to Tucker.</p>
<p>“Guys!” Danny yelled, their heads turned. Smacked in the middle, Danny felt trapped, suddenly forgetting his words.</p>
<p>“Danny, you alright?” Sam asked, noticing the rising panic on his expression.</p>
<p>“So,” He cleared his throat, “Remember the accident in the lab I told you about?”</p>
<p>“Every time I look at your head,” Tucker joked, his mouth shut at Sam's glare.</p>
<p>“Well, yeah, and like I said it was a portal to another dimension, so the rules are different, right?” He glanced at his sides, both friends nodded slowly, hoping he would get to the point. “So... I kinda like...” He wanted to use the D word, but it would only raise more questions than answers, at that point Danny needed to keep it on the basics, death for dummies, and he didn't need the two to start a whole argument over the concept of afterlife.</p>
<p>“Earth to Danny!” Sam waved her hand before his eyes, “What happened?”</p>
<p>Danny blinked, “So it like, did something weird, I didn't noticed at first,” He reached out for his soda, took a quick sip and licked his lips, glad that his friends were giving him time, “It kinda,” he waved his hand around, “You know, I think it's better if I show you.”</p>
<p>Mustering all his courage, Danny stood before the TV playing an overproduced ad for a high-tech device company, his friends eyes fixed on him. Tension rose. He felt exposed so disappearing came easily. They gasped, which he found rather amusing, the kind of satisfaction one gets from doing a magic trick.</p>
<p>“Danny?” Sam called. They studied the way the image on the TV was distorted.</p>
<p>“I'm here.” Sam and Tucker jumped on their seats at the voice coming from the odd anomaly floating before him.</p>
<p>“Dude!” Tucker shouted, “you're like...”</p>
<p>“A ghost?”</p>
<p>“Yeah!” Tucker stood up and stepped closer, reached out with his hand, and recoiled immediately, “It's so cold!”</p>
<p>“Why didn't you tell us?” Sam interfered.</p>
<p>Danny was glad she couldn't see his expression, “I couldn't explain it. I was trying to make sense of it.”</p>
<p>“Your parents don't know, obviously,” she spoke a fact which no one in the room was going to argue about, Danny's parents were out of the equation, “but Jazz?”</p>
<p>“No way, I got enough of her breathing over my neck when I was human.”</p>
<p>“When you were alive, you mean,” Tucker added an observation that only after he realized the seriousness of it.</p>
<p>The silence between them was louder than the stupid jingle playing from the TV. Sam turned it off and released the deep breath she was holding. Danny hoped reaching such conclusion would've taken longer, preferably when he was away. He became visible.</p>
<p>“So, uh,” Tucker tried to break the tension, “Can you fly or something?”</p>
<p>“Yup,” Danny smiled and floated just above his friend's waist, Tucker was dazzled. He glanced at Sam, she looked up to him, worry in her eyes. “Look, Sam, I'm still here. I'm not exactly sure I'm dead even... Sure I don't have a pulse, don't need to eat or sleep, and probably the best part: I don't need to go to the bathroom!” His voice cracked nervously.</p>
<p>“Aw dude, that's like my dream!” Tucker cheered, “Unlimited space!”</p>
<p>“But I'm still here,” Danny continued, “I'm figuring this thing out, but I think I'll be fine.”</p>
<p>Sam watched the two dumb smiles waiting for her clearance, she sighed, “I believe in you, Danny, but you have to be extra careful now, specially around your parents.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, dude, remember that thing with Jazz?”</p>
<p>Danny nodded.</p>
<p>“Also that invisibility isn't very invisible,” she commented.</p>
<p>“I know, I'm not sure if I can become totally invisible.”</p>
<p>“No sneaking in the girls' showers after gym, huh?” Tucker laughed.</p>
<p>“Tucker!” Sam and Danny shouted in unison.</p>
<p>“I'm joking! I'm joking!”</p>
<p>“Yeah, sure...” She frowned.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The rest of the afternoon flew by quickly, the trio played video games and watched bad movies. Danny's situation was kept in brief jokes and questions, something he was thankful of. The weight of the secret lifted from his shoulders, he felt at ease knowing his friends would be by his side when he needed. He kept most events from the last few days to himself, the kid in the restroom, Dash, Walker, the octopuses, the somber feelings that sometimes plagued his mind.</p>
<p>Tucker's parents arrived first, not wanting their son walking alone when ghosts seemed to be running amok. Danny and Sam stood by the big gate, waving their friend goodbye. When the car turned around the corner, Sam looked at Danny with a seriousness that reminded him of Jazz.</p>
<p>“What's up?” Danny acted innocent.</p>
<p>“Were you the one that attacked the kid in the restroom?” She said straight away. Danny almost disappeared on the spot, he opened his mouth but only a dumb moan came out, enough for an answer. “Why did you do that? How?” She shouted.</p>
<p>“It was an accident! They were talking trash about Jazz and I just wanted to turn him around and make him pee on the other guy! I didn't know I could do that!” Danny pleaded.</p>
<p>“So you can hurt people,” the way she put it made him feel awful, “that's one more thing to worry about, if you start hurting people it will get your parents' attention.”</p>
<p>Not only my parents, he thought. Sam crossed her arms and looked down the broad, well maintained street, a gardener blew leaves from the neighbor's house. Danny knew better than to keep some secrets, “Dash too...”</p>
<p>“What?” She turned to him with big eyes.</p>
<p>“I did the same to Dash,” he confessed, “He chased me after we split up at the nasty burger, I hid and then zapped him when he wasn't looking.”</p>
<p>“So that was on purpose, then?”</p>
<p>Danny nodded.</p>
<p>“Dash is a major idiot, I can't blame you for that, but if something really bad happens, can you live with it?” Danny shook his head. Sam nodded, no words were needed, for all her stubbornness, she could be just as wise as Jazz. “Were you the one in my house last night, too?”</p>
<p>Danny blushed and nodded sheepishly, “I just passed by, I swear!” He raised his hands.</p>
<p>“My cousins kept looking for you the entire party,” she smiled, “be glad you didn't scare them.” Danny nodded, thankful for her understanding.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>What was left of Saturday went by in a flash. Danny kept to his human routine, which meant locking himself in his room playing video games for hours on end. With his new ghostly form he no longer needed to tend to human necessities, so he remained cocooned for the rest of the weekend, floating without a care, he found that time flied when one was at ease.</p>
<p>Sunday evening, Jazz knocked on his door, she shivered when he opened it, “Whoa, Danny, it's freezing in here,” she looked at the open window, “close that window or you'll get at cold!”</p>
<p>“What is it?” Danny spoke, tone as cold as the room, annoyed at his rest being interrupted.</p>
<p>Jazz scoffed, “I'm ordering some Chinese food, come choose what you want or I'll just get what I want,” she said. Danny wasn't hungry, but he could go for some tasty food. He followed his sister downstairs and they read the menu together. Later they placed the boxes on the counter, setting aside a large portion reserved for their parents (mostly Jack), and had their meals by the television, quietly, for a bit at least.</p>
<p>“Have you done your homework?” She asked without taking her eyes from the screen. Danny slurped his noodles loudly, she took the hint with an annoyed glance, “Don't go complaining if you end up in detention again.”</p>
<p>Annoyed, he took an angry a bite of a spring roll, and felt his teeth miss a bite and dig into his tongue, he hissed and swore.</p>
<p>“What happened?” Jazz leaned over, he brushed her aside.</p>
<p>“Bit my tongue,” he reached for a napkin and placed it over his tongue.</p>
<p>To his annoyance, Jazz leaned closer, “wow Danny, your canines are very pronounced,” she exclaimed, taking his jaw with her hand for further inspection, he pulled away, “that might mean you'll need braces.”</p>
<p>Danny groaned, “That's just what I needed to add to my look, wow!”</p>
<p>“Don't be so dramatic,” She rolled her eyes, “It's a common thing now.” But he didn't listen.</p>
<p>His parents entered the room, chattering excitedly about technicalities and scientific mumbo jumbo. “Oh, the food is already here!” Maddie exclaimed, “Thank you, darling.” Jazz looked over her shoulder to see a kind smile. Jack was already at the kitchen, opening the boxes. Much to Danny's discomfort, they joined them in the living room. “How was the weekend, kids?” The matriarch asked with genuine interest.</p>
<p>Danny shrugged, irked by the slurping noises his father was making. Jazz spoke briefly about going out to the mall and a movie she watched and didn't like. Danny shoved the last dumpling in his mouth and barely chewed before swallowing, “I'm getting sleepy, goodnight guys,” he mumbled and left without seeing the concerned looks from his family.</p>
<p>The shower was quick, but soothing. Danny loved the feeling of water on his ghost form, he hoped it would rain soon so he could fly and feel the refreshing cold rushing through him. On bed in the dark, Danny watched the curtains fluttering with the wind, barely feeling the cold, just the sensation of the breeze. His chest hummed softly, sleep took over him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>--</p>
<p> </p>
<p>His skin itched, bubbling and popping like popcorn on microwave. His muscles, his pounding heart, tightened and twisted like a wet cloth squeezing all the water out, the tension paralyzed him, there was no escape from the unfortunate fate he brought on himself. Frozen in time, taking and feeling every sensation to excruciating depths of what took place in a just couple of seconds. He thought it would end, that the crippling pain and the shut down of his body would do him in, but he lingered, as something effervescent and translucent began to take over his heart, growing from within like moss and wrapping itself tightly around the unmoving organ, hardening itself into a smooth, dense bauble. Only when a chilling embrace swept away all the warmth from his body that Danny felt relief.</p>
<p>His cheek pressed against the cool, hard tiles, with immense effort he pulled himself to his knees and crawled on all fours to the stairs, hanging on to the thin railing, slithering upwards, slowly, desperately. His thoughts weren't what happened to him, that seemed foggy and distant, but what would happen if anyone in his family found him that way. So he struggled to climb each step until he regained control of his legs, feeling every bone in his body heavy as if loaded with lead.</p>
<p>The bathroom lights flickered, casting a golden warmth at the soft baby blue tiles. Danny Fenton stumbled his way in and locked the door tightly. His feet made it to the mirror before his eyes showed him the way. With his sight blurred and twisted, the first thing he noticed was the white aura on the top of his head. His hand reached for the faucet, he lowered his heavy head and splashed it with cool water, rubbing his eyes and running his fingers through his hair until the uneasiness became bearable.</p>
<p>After 14 years, Danny finally had an accident with one of his parents' inventions. He had forgotten how it felt, he had to remember it. That was the rule. He needed to feel it for the rest of eternity, let it linger in the back of his head. He had to remember he was dead.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Danny woke up with a scream, slumping in his bed as he felt the awful sensation fading out slowly like a dream. The alarm rang just a minute later, the thing needed a couple of strong smacks to stop, he had grown to despite that noise. The room had taken oppressive tones blues and grays, outside the sky was the color of static, the stale air smelled of gasoline, he hated days like that. He phased through his bedroom's door by accident, fortunately no one was there to see.</p>
<p>Jazz sat in the dark, the dull light from the window barely illuminated the room. He tried the light switch, but nothing happened. “Great,” he mumbled, “this never happens when it's sunny.” Jazz didn't answer, eyes fixed on a magazine. “Jazz, you're going to strain your eyes,” Danny mocked the tone she used when concerned, she ignored him, “are you mad at me or something?” He stood before her, and waved his hands, “earth to Jazz!” Nothing. He poked her shoulder, she jumped on her seat and looked around, hand rubbing the spot.</p>
<p>Confused, Danny looked at his visible body, how come she wasn't seeing him? His core began to oscillate, he grew anxious, trying to focus on his body, trying to reach something inside him, but nothing he tried made him visible to her. He needed a way to get her attention, his hand reached out to Jazz's thermos, fingers going right through it, he tried again, it wobbled, and again, two hands clawing desperately, it shook, Jazz raised her eyes to the bottle, it toppled on the table with a harsh sound. She jumped from her seat and watched it roll down to the floor, the dull thud echoed on the kitchen.</p>
<p>Noticing the reaction from his sister, Danny began to shout, “Jazz! Jazz! It's me, Danny!” He walked towards her as she backed away to the corner, grasping at the counters. “That's it,” he thought with doomed resolve, he ran out of time, whatever second chance he was given he blew it with self indulgence, spent his time alone, tormented others and given himself up completely to the ghost inside him, when he should've used such opportunity to properly part with his family and friends. Walker was bound to show up at any moment and sweep him away to an eternity of punishment.</p>
<p>Desperate, Danny ignored the terror on her face, the way she held her hands against her chest as she fell on her knees, curling desperately against the corner like a trapped animal, staring at the terrifying aberration hovering above her, a slithering green smoke struggling to take shape, barely forming a tormented face that screamed at her, the twisted jaw opened wide, spitting sludge that floated towards the ceiling. She snapped and screamed from the top of her lungs, screamed until her throat burned, shouted for her father.</p>
<p>His body rattled with her scream, a migraine shattering is head. Heavy foot steps echoed. A bright flash of electric blue, a violent deafening thunder shook the room, he watched Jazz's wide eyes shut as drops of green splattered across her face. His father's voice yelled. A scorching heat spread from Danny's chest, he looked down and saw a glowing hole at the center of his torso, fire blue, his ribs shattered and exposed. Time stood still. Screams choked in his throat. Trembling fingers touched the cracked bones with morbid curiosity. Over his shoulder, his father had a rifle aimed at him, the barrel burned red, his face twisted with anger, his wife behind him running into the kitchen. All in slow motion. The walls parted, the room curved and expanded as if seeing through fisheye lenses, he faltered with the vertigo effect.</p>
<p>“What an unfortunate end for such unique creature,” three desynchronized voices spoke from the ether, the first one was young and lively, the second deep and serious, the third raspy and tired, “at the hands of his own kin.” The echo effect was disorientating.</p>
<p>Danny's lips quivered, “I don't wanna die, please, not now, not like this,” he pleaded to the void, not sure why.</p>
<p>“We all have our time, you more than others”</p>
<p>Danny could barely move, the pain overwhelmed him. He sobbed miserably, “More than others? I'm fourteen!”</p>
<p>“Others were ten, five. Some were nothing at all.”</p>
<p>“Please, my family... they won't understand.” Green blood gushed from the wound before fizzling out like ashes. He realized he was alone in that space that no longer was his kitchen, but a big nothingness that somehow weighted over him.</p>
<p>“Your true death was at that basement, Daniel, but you cheated it.” The portal appeared before him. Electricity coursed through his veins, he barred his teeth and shut his eyes as it ceased every cell of his body, cramped every muscle. He wanted to retaliate, it wasn't his fault, he didn't want this, he was just a dumb, curious teenager. “Cheating death has consequences, Daniel, do you think you can handle them?”</p>
<p>“Yes!” He didn't think as he answered and he knew the voices knew, “Please, bring me back! I don't want it to end like this! I can't bear the guilt of having my parents do this! Not in front of my sister!”</p>
<p>The brief silence felt maddening, he needed an answer, “Very well, young phantom. It will be interesting to watch the paths you choose. Now make your escape, you know where to go.”</p>
<p>The room folded towards him like a rush of blood to the head. A distant light appeared, pulsating, growing brighter, larger, and pulled him towards it with a pressure that felt like a plane taking off too fast. A thin ray reached out and pierced through the wound in his torso, calcifying it, stopping the burning from spreading. The pain overwhelmed the ghost into near unconsciousness.</p>
<p>The scene in the kitchen faded in. Danny stood before his sister frozen in time, his parents behind him. He had to make a getaway, but he wasn't going to get far wounded that badly. He knew exactly where the voices told him to go. As time began to tick, he plunged into the floor, down to the basement, and escaped to the portal, if it were to kill him (again) it would be better than dying before his family.</p>
<p>He dived through the twirling ectoplasm and crossed the threshold, submerging into a never-ending emptiness, far away an iridescent aurora rippled slowly, the sound of rolling thunder gurgled and reverberated. Danny resembled a fetus in the womb, a microscopic dot in the void, floating slowly, curled in pain. Is this what space felt like? His eyes glanced at the crackling sound, his ribs were retracting into his body, he looked away.</p>
<p>The ghost zone felt intensely lonely, it blurred his thoughts, clouded his mind with static, Danny couldn't even bring himself to cry. The pain reached its peak when the bones snapped into place and merged with each other, his flayed skin wrapped itself around it, he sobbed and howled, breaking the hollow silence, his own echoes pierced his ears. For a brief moment, when relief washed in like morphine, Danny's eyes drifted.</p>
<p>Peace didn't last long. A griping tension tugged him down, pushed him away from the distancing portal. He couldn't see it, only feel it, rough, thin sheets wrapped tightly around his legs and arms. He fought against it, barred teeth, straining his limbs to the limit, speeding upwards, he could sense that the sheets began to rip apart, until another wrapped itself around his neck tightly, choking, threatening to snap it. The portal was fading from his view. Despair took him over. The emerald glow in his hands grew stronger, sparked. He growled and screamed from the depths of his throat, bursting with electricity, tearing the sheets into pieces and rocket himself towards the distant portal. Intense, raw energy pulsating from within. He was a comet breaking into atmosphere.</p>
<p>The laboratory trembled, one could mistake it for a earthquake was it not for the burst of blinding light that emerged at hyper speed from the portal and caused every lamp to explode, every piece of machinery to flicker and die, everything not nailed down to be blown away.</p>
<p>Quickly the two scientists/ghost hunters came running and tumbling down the stairs. They halted, Jack threw a protective arm before his wife, both frozen in awe and fear at the humanoid storm hovering in their lab, bursting green lighting arcs at the walls like a cosmic Tesla coil. They backed away from its reach when it reared its head to them, its skeletal form outlined by the storm raging inside it. It watched them for a long moment before soaring out of the room.</p>
<p>Phantom tore through the sky at the speed of sound, booming higher and higher until the horizon curved and his surroundings grew darker and colder. The electricity fizzled and faded like dying fire. He watched the world spin and blur as he went down.</p>
<p>At the sight of his house below, he regained his senses, he shuddered as if he had just returned to his body after a long session of astral projection. That once familiar, mundane sensation of weight, and gravity, and touch was becoming increasingly abnormal, but it was the only thing keeping him bound to his humanity.</p>
<p>With humanity, real life came into mind, which for a minute there he had forgotten his own name. Cautiously, he phased into his room, changed his clothes and picked up his backpack. Brewing an excuse, shaking off the fizzling in his bones, he walked innocently to the front door and entered his house.</p>
<p>Jazz sat on the couch, wrapped in a thick blanket cocoon, watching TV. “Danny?” She exclaimed, her voice hoarse and tired, “Where were you?”</p>
<p>Before he could answer, his mother came running from the lab, “Daniel! Where were you? We called your phone! The school!” She shouted, a hands patting his hair, it stood up to her fingers with static, “You're freezing!”</p>
<p>“I went to school earlier to talk to Mr. Lancer, but a ghost chased me!” He lied, putting on his best act, “I had to run like ten blocks to lose it and come back!”</p>
<p>“Oh dear!” She pulled him to the couch next to her sister, “Do you want some hot cocoa too?” He cocked an eyebrow at the question, he couldn't remember the last time his mother prepared something for them. He nodded anyway.</p>
<p>“Jazz, why are you still here? What happened?” He asked sheepishly.</p>
<p>“A spook attacked your sister in the kitchen!” Jack exclaimed, climbing the stairs from the lab, the usual excitement replaced with anger. “Those darn ghosts think they can mess with the Fentons? Ha!” His proud voice boomed, “We'll show them!”</p>
<p>Danny faced her, swallowing his guilt. He couldn't read her expression, she looked at him with a weak smile. “Are you okay?” He asked in almost a whisper, worried that anything louder would spook her. She nodded. He kept some distance as he sat on the couch, “You're not hurt, or anything?”</p>
<p>“I'm alright, Danny,” her voice was weary from all the screaming, it tugged at his heart, “It scared me, but I'm okay now.”</p>
<p>Danny nodded. Soon his mother arrived with a hot mug, the marshmallow floating on the melted chocolate was an endearing touch. He smiled at her. “Another ghost made a mess on the lab too, I'll be right there cleaning up in case you two need anything, okay?” She directed it to Jazz, who nodded with a smile.</p>
<p>Once she left, Jazz spoke, “don't tell them, but...” she touched her own mug with her lips and pulled away, “I wish they hadn't shot the ghost,” she confessed.</p>
<p>“Why not?”</p>
<p>“It looked scared. Just as scared as I was. Like it didn't know what it was doing” She clenched the mug to keep her shivering hands from spilling it, he did the same. “Maybe it had just left the portal, maybe it was reaching out for help,” she blew at the hot liquid, “Whatever it was, I have a feeling that it didn't want to hurt me.”</p>
<p>“No,” Danny thought, “it didn't, it could never hurt you. Never.” He picked the marshmallow and took a bite, focusing on the dumb reality show on TV so he wouldn't start crying. The sight of his blood spraying on her face flashed before him. “I'm sorry,” he choked. Jazz turned to him, confused by the sudden apology. “Sorry for all the times I was rude to you,” he felt the first tear fall, “I know I need to watch my temper, but it's hard sometimes.”</p>
<p>After a brief moment, she set her mug down and opened the blanket to him. He moved closer and laid his head on her shoulder. She wrapped the blanket around him, “It's okay, Danny. I take care of you, that's what a big sister does.”</p>
<p>“I should've been kinder.”</p>
<p>“Sometimes I can be too much.”</p>
<p>“Cause I don't listen. I don't want to admit you're right.”</p>
<p>She patted his hair and rubbed his arms, “You're so cold.” She didn't let him pull away. They watched TV quietly, the stupidity of it calmed him down, veered his mind away from what had happen, from trying to understand, too exhausted to keep trying to make sense of it.</p>
<p>Their parents returned, smiling at each other at the sight of their children. “We're back,” Maddie whispered softly, “How's the hot chocolate?”</p>
<p>“Actually delicious, mom,” Jazz replied.</p>
<p>Jack took his large arm chair, pulling a lever that extended more space for his legs. Maddie took the empty spot on the couch. The family laughed together at the two women on the screen pulling each other's hair in a nasty cat fight. He wanted to enjoy it, needed to, otherwise the distance would only grow farther, but Phantom hovered from the dark corner of the room, peering, prowling, waiting for the right moment to take over him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Danny texted his friends during school lunch and lied about a random ghost that came out of the portal and scared Jazz, certain truths were better left unsaid. He had yet to make sense of what had happened, the voices that spoke to him, how he returned safe and sound, his identity still a secret. What the voices said lingered in his head, if the worst was yet to come, he feared his future.</p>
<p>He circled the spot he was shot at with his finger, a very faint sun shaped mark was all that remained from what hours ago was a clean hole and his protruding, cracked ribs. He repressed the nausea in his stomach, the phantom pain stinging.</p>
<p>The day was spent recovering in silence. Jazz had insisted she returned to school to work with her apprentices, their parents eventually conceded and handed her a strange steel thermos said to be able to capture ghosts like a vacuum cleaner. Danny glared at the thing, he feared one day he would open it expecting to find coffee and get sucked in. He made sure to never get close to a thermos ever again. Before leaving, she insisted he finished his homework and studied, Danny would be a major hypocrite if he didn't, so he sat by his desk and suffered valiantly through the torture session, going through over a week of work that had piled up, unfortunately being a ghost didn't make him any smarter, though it did improve his mental stamina.</p>
<p>The family had dinner together, a rare occasion. Danny held his head high despite his anxiety, sitting inches away from the spot where he died a second time, his father recounting the event only made it worse. “The ghost was close to materializing,” he explained, “that's when they are most vulnerable.” Danny nodded, no longer having the energy or the appetite to finish his meal, he remained for Jazz's sake, who seemed to be enjoying the family moment. He repeated the same mantra in his head, “they didn't know it was me”, but the dreadful doubt lingered, “Would they had done the same if they did?”</p>
<p>He returned to the TV with his sister and watched a sappy romantic comedy, a welcomed distraction. His parents left to patrol the night, Jack seemed more eager than ever, hoping to find the “Electrom” phantom that wrecked their lab and teach it a lesson.</p>
<p>“Electricity, Phantom. Get it?” Jack clapped his hands, “Because he is made of electricity?”</p>
<p>Despite the bitter taste in his mouth, Danny smiled, if only they knew.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Kids see ghosts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Danny crawled his way down Casper High's hallway, his ghost core kept him up all night, pulsating with anxiety, he spent his late hours carefully calibrating the current that sprang from the weighty bauble in his chest towards the rest of his body, his ghostly nervous system was no more than an unstable power grid threatening to short circuity at any moment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> He could feel the staring, the way the students stepped aside, clearing the way, as if he was sick and infectious, and he couldn't blame them, his skin was an ill shade of green like he was desperately repressing nausea. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> He insisted to Jazz in the morning that he wasn't sick, just tired, she had to concede as he couldn't miss another day of school, and as much as he wanted to, there was a need to keep some normalcy, and if his parents had seen his shade they would've shoved some sort of ghost detecting tube down his throat right by the dinner table.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “You know,” said a silvery voice, “that white hair isn't bad.” He turned to see Paulina, the newest student in the school, her staggering beauty didn't go unnoticed, and she had pretty much climbed the social ladder on day one from her looks alone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny giggled, he would be blushing if he still could. No matter how much he fooled himself, he needed the acceptance, it was teenager biology, and part of him despised himself for it. “You think so?” His voice cracked, he winced mentally.</span>
</p>
<p>“Kinda gives you an edge, you know,” she batted her eyelashes, or maybe just blinked, he couldn't tell.</p>
<p>“It was just a dare, but I'm starting to like it.” He chuckled, coyly running his fingers over his white locks.</p>
<p>“I don't think we've met yet, I'm Paulina.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I kno-.” He shook his head, “I mean, nice to meet you. I'm Da-”</p>
<p>A strong push shoved him inside his locker, he barely squeezed himself in the tight space before the door shut itself and left him in the dark. He heard that grating voice outside, “Dash Baxter, all star quarterback, and school hero,” he proclaimed, tuning down his voice to sound less shrilling. Was he self aware? Danny thought, as he attempted to use his powers to burst open the door Dash leaned on and throw him off. He pushed his body and phased through it, followed by an odd sensation of being pulled by an undertow at the beach. His vision blanked and when it returned he found himself staring at Paulina from above. He panicked for a moment, was he floating? She cocked an eyebrow at him. His body was taller, stronger. He dropped the football he was holding and saw Kwan reaching out to grab it, throwing him an odd look.</p>
<p>“I'm in Dash's body?” He thought out loud.</p>
<p>“Excuse me?” She asked.</p>
<p>Possession. Danny wanted to burst out laughing. He had to take advantage of the situation.</p>
<p>“So what was your name again?” He asked, that voice sounded so deafening to his own ears, maybe that was why Dash was always yelling.</p>
<p>“Paulina,” she said, starting to get annoyed.</p>
<p>“Paulina, no, that won't work, too foreign. I'm giving you a new name.” Dash shook his hands, dismissing her, “Your new name is...” Danny thought of that reality show, “Gina D.” He proclaimed. Paulina was downright insulted, Kwan laid a hand on his shoulder.</p>
<p>“Dude, what are you doing?” He rather whispered.</p>
<p>“Alright Gina D. Why don't I show you to the girl's restroom? You might want to lighten up that make up, makes your head look like a fish.”</p>
<p>Paulina gasped, Kwan straight up put himself between them. Danny was loving every second of it.</p>
<p>“Paulina, I'm so sorry! He just came back from the hospital-” Kwan tried desperately, but “Dash” pushed him aside.</p>
<p>“I'm just trying to get this chick up to my stand-” Dash gasped, his vision doubled, Danny was losing control, being pulled off the body like a magnet. He threw Dash against the locker and pulled himself out of the jock's body, back in the enclosed space. Dash slid to the floor and flopped like a fish. Kwan was yelling and trying to keep him steady. Paulina watched with concern.</p>
<p>Slowly, Dash regained himself, “What? What happened?” He stuttered.</p>
<p>“Dude, I think you were convulsing again, we gotta take you to the infirmary now.” He threw Dash's arm over his shoulder and carried him away apologizing once again to Paulina before leaving.</p>
<p>Paulina opened the locker, Danny stumbled his way out, trying not to laugh.</p>
<p>“What happened?” He asked all innocently.</p>
<p>“That Dash guy seemed a little disturbed,” she answered with some concern. Danny was slightly disappointed, he didn't want Dash to look pitiful. “Anyway, can you show me where's locker 724?”</p>
<p>“Of course!” Danny walked proudly as he led her to the class, trying not to laugh as he listened to the rumor mill already going on about Dash's behavior. “Here it is,” he presented the locker to the girl, from all the rust it seemed no one had used it in ages.</p>
<p>She struggled to open it, and coughed as dust poured over them. A thick layer of ancient grime gathered on the walls, abandoned cobwebs littered with exoskeletons, even the spiders had fled from the black mold taking an eerie shape that resembled a heart, dried out and left to rot.</p>
<p>Paulina gagged, “Oh no, this is worst than my last one after that lunch lady ghost exploded all over it.”</p>
<p>“That's cause it's cursed,” Tucker stepped in, “or at least that's how the legend goes.”</p>
<p>Danny rolled his eyes, “C'mon Tuck, stop spooking her.”</p>
<p>“Cursed?” She asked, seemingly taking it seriously.</p>
<p>“It was owned by a kid in the 50's, he was the victim of more cruel pranks than anyone in the history of Casper highschool. Apparently, picking on him was a graduation requirement. He got stuck into his locker so many times, it's believed his spirit still inhabits it.”</p>
<p>“Oh, no, no, no. They take an entire week to assign me a new locker and its haunted? I don't know what's worst, this or the putrid smell of meat in my stuff.”</p>
<p>“Don't worry, Paulina, that's just urban legend,” Danny attempted to lay a hand on her shoulder, but quickly stopped, it lingered awkwardly like he was waiting for a high five.</p>
<p>She giggled and thanked him, “By the way, you never had the chance to tell me your name,” She said in a husky tone, or at least Danny heard it that way.</p>
<p>“Danny,” He spoke firmly, “Danny Fenton.”</p>
<p>She smiled and blew him a kiss.</p>
<p>“Damn, bro. Finessed.” Tucker cheered as they walked to class.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Oh, Dude, did you hear about Dash?” Tucker whispered from the desk behind him. Danny nodded.</p>
<p>“You don't happen to have anything to do with it, do you?” Sam asked already knowing the answer, she shook his head disapprovingly when Danny shrugged, “That was cruel, Danny.”</p>
<p>“Cruel?” Danny spat, “It's Dash we're talking about.”</p>
<p>“Don't you think he had enough over the weekend?”</p>
<p>“Don't you think I had enough over the last two years?” His voice rose with anger, the teacher shushed him, Danny glared at him.</p>
<p>“Any problem, Mr. Fenton?” Mr. Falluca called, he was tiny and geeky, not at all imposing like Lancer or Tetslaff, but a teacher's a teacher.</p>
<p>“No, sir.” He crossed his arms and lowered his head. Fuming. Sam had no right to scold him, he kept it a secret from his sister for that very reason. His powers were unraveling before him, it was only right to use it to right the wrongs thrown upon him all those years. He suffered for being weak, small, now he was the stronger one, now it was his turn.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A surprise history test – that wasn't a surprise, he just wasn't paying attention when it was announced - soured his mood, he left it mostly in blanks and redundant ramblings. To add insult to injury of an already bruised ego, gym class came after. Ms. Tetslaff dodge-ball was a lawless arena where only the strongest survived. Dash was already up and running, furious and pent up from his forced break from training because of health concerns, he and his lackeys fired balls like cannons, mostly directed at Danny. Stomach, legs, back all bruised.</p>
<p>Tetslaff gave him a break after his shoulder was nearly dislocated, she pointed him towards a pack of ice inside the cooler in her office. Danny sat at the bench in the locker room, his ghost soothed the pain and healed his bruises, all that was left was the discomfort and growing anger that boiled his icy core, the growing hum of electricity crackled at his fingers.</p>
<p>He was the strongest one, it was his turn.</p>
<p>The bigger guys continued to torment anyone outside their ilk. Danny watched from the sidelines, nearly invisible, so he decided to turn their game upside down. The phantom jumped from one bully to another, taking over their limbs and having them back stab each other in the form of head shots and low blows, until their own bravado was their undoing. Danny stepped back and watched Ms. Tetslaff screaming about the lack of sportsmanship as the angry jocks destroyed each other over final dominance of the arena. The phantom only stepped back in when Dash and Dale faced each other in a stand off. He possessed Dash and let Dale deal the final blow. The brief pain was worth the loss of Dash's reputation.</p>
<p>By the end of the massacre, Tetslaff yelled as they stood angry and confused in a line, but that wasn't enough for Danny, he was having way too much fun. In the showers he continued his prank streak, turning faucets of hot and cold water, disappearing with clothes, exchanging possessions in lockers. Kwan yelled a Dale for spotting his underwear on his friends' locker. Danny had his hands over his mouth to muffled the laughter, so absorbed in his mischief he didn't notice the cold brewing in his mouth alerting of something nearby.</p>
<p>He recounted the events to his friends during lunch, Tucker had tears in his eyes from laughing, Sam frowned, “I don't think you should be using your powers like that, Danny.”</p>
<p>He was growing tired of her sour mood, “Oh chill, Jazz,” he mocked, “I didn't electrocute anyone this time, just a little harmless fun!”</p>
<p>“Yeah, Sam, chill. It's about time people start striking blows for Sidney Poindexter.”</p>
<p>“Sidney, who?” Danny asked and hissed at his teeth grazing on his lips.</p>
<p>“I was looking up, he was the kid that had Paulina's locker.” Tucker pointed to his tablet, “Seems like all the chaos you caused on gym class got the whole school axis out of balance. The basketball team plan of shrinking the band's uniform backfired and their own uniforms shrunk and someone pushed Dale on his own locker and he stayed there for an entire class!”</p>
<p>“How did he even fit?”</p>
<p>“Oh, you don't wanna know, it was a very suggestive position that they had to pry him off in front of everyone.”</p>
<p>Suddenly, a football landed on Danny's tray, exploding his carton of milk all over his shirt. He didn't even need to look to know where it came from, the obnoxious laughter had already answered.</p>
<p>Danny stood up, his glowing eyes glaring with anger, “Those guys really don't learn their lessons, do they?”</p>
<p>“Easy, Danny, easy.” Sam laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder, her calming voice soothed him immensely.</p>
<p>He became aware of his temper flaring up again and thought of what he had said to his sister. The weight on his chest grew heavier, he couldn't let it take him over or there would be consequences.</p>
<p>But a exploding wave of milky white splattered over him again. He growled and closed his eyes for a brief second, maintaining control of the current flowing inside him until he saw Sam. Her black shirt of a band she adored was completely stained with the creamy liquid she abhorred. That's when he lost it. Without a word, he stood up. She hissed at the shock as she tried to grab his arm. Danny left the cafeteria, but his friends knew better, immediately spotting a light anomaly in the ceiling descending upon Dash and disappearing inside him.</p>
<p>Tucker and Sam watched the jock flip his tray of food all over the blonde girl across the table, spilling his precious meatloaf all over her pink blouse, she barely had time to yell before he shoved the tray on the face of the guy next to him. The anomaly then sprung from his body as he fell flat on the table. The entire cafeteria burst into laughter, save from the victims, and the real perpetrator's friends.</p>
<p>Danny walked down the empty corridor laughing, wondering if could train Dash like a dog, eventually he would correlate bullying Danny to blacking out and waking up in bizarre situations.</p>
<p>“You think that was funny, buster?” Said a squeaky voice. Danny turned to see a tiny, geeky boy pouting at him, “You better leave that poor kid alone.”</p>
<p>“What?” Danny cocked an eyebrow, “Are you talking about Dash?” He giggled, “Man, I think you had it backwards.”</p>
<p>“Don't hand me that jazz. You're the bully from where I'm standing.”</p>
<p>He looked down his short body, he was floating. The boy was floating.</p>
<p>“Let's see how you like getting bullied,” he raised his glowing green hands, his eyes turned a dark, violent red. The lockers began to tremble, the doors burst open, books, pencils, all their contents shot towards Danny, he was quick to turn ghost and fly off. The boy followed.</p>
<p>“Dude! What's wrong with you?” Danny yelled as the geek chased him down the hallway, he could see Danny even invisible, but he himself made no attempt to hide from the startled students. Danny had to do something, stop the ghost before his parents showed up and chased them both, “Stop! You're getting us in trouble!”</p>
<p>“Oh, so now you're scared!” The ghost shouted, his comically round glasses flashed and two beams of green light hit Danny straight on the chest, blowing him across a wall into an office. An alarm was sound, different in tone from the fire alarm. His parents were alerted, he had about ten minutes to deal with the stubborn ghost that was floating before him, it's wiry frame trying to look threatening. “Listen, you need to stop all of this or we're both going to be hunted down!”</p>
<p>“If you're afraid of the consequences, maybe you shouldn't be bullying others!” His ratty voice spat, “I won't allow someone to use their powers to terrorize the innocent, the weak! If a geek is in need, I'll be there to protect him!” He declared loudly and proudly.</p>
<p>Danny groaned, “I'm using my powers to fight against the bully!”</p>
<p>“That's cowardly, the very basis of bullying! You're taking advantage of others with your strength!”</p>
<p>“Didn't you see the things they were doing before? The milk, the-” He stopped, there was no changing his mind, the little nerd had a very narrow field of view and was about to toss a table his way. He moved aside, his core vibrated loudly, the constant attacks kept his powers unstable, he had to make a getaway. He dropped to the first floor, stopping right above a group of students being led by a teacher to the nearest exit. A girl screamed at the meek grey boy that appeared from the ceiling, his glowing hands flashing lasers that Danny barely dodged. He continued the chase, whenever Danny tried to leave the school walls, the stubborn ghost blocked his way. He heard the sirens outside, his parents had definitely arrived. The sight of his exposed ribs flashed before his eyes.</p>
<p>A painful hit that scorched his back had him plunging into the gym, much to his despair, a large group of students and staff congregated there, waiting for the emergency services. The shot of ectoplasm that hit Danny in the back alerted them as they began to scream at the ghost fight happening right above them. The box holding the basketballs exploded, students threw themselves on the floor to avoid getting hit by the barrage of bouncing balls that chased Danny like honing missiles, enveloped by the grey ectoplasm, Danny's intangibility was useless, he felt like in the dodge-ball match all over again, but with flaming balls instead, tearing at his skin like the brief touch of a heated grill, little by little the stings weakened him.</p>
<p>Danny had to put a stop to it. He shot up towards the ghost and tackled it in the air, the electricity rushed from his hands and shocked the little apparition. Like a short circuit, they exploded in a green blast that shut all the lights.</p>
<p>Danny felt pain, humiliation, overwhelming shame. His head and his shirt wet and smelling foul, he felt his collar tug on his throat as a force carried him down a familiar hallway, unfamiliar faces laughing a familiar laugher, of mockery and disdain, the cruel jokes and name calling piercing his eardrums, echoing endlessly. Suddenly a flare of stinging pain, and darkness. He felt bruises on his ribs, red scarred burns on his arms, the smell of mold clinging to his lungs. The sound of mockery pierced his eardrums, the smothering claustrophobia of the walls that closed in on him in the darkness as he banged on them desperately, his arms so feeble, so helpless to break him free from the metal coffin. His heart couldn't pump blood fast enough, he gulped for air that never reached his lungs, trapped in his swelled throat, the stench was intoxicating, migraine inducing. His screams turned into weak wheezing ,he was drowning, clawing at the metal, wide eyes fixed on the light coming from three narrow holes on the wall that slowly, agonizingly, began to fade, his last thoughts were of his own weakness: his inability to fight back. How unfair the world it is for the feeble, the weak of heart.</p>
<p>Danny opened his teary eyes. His hands grasped at a white bauble in the little ghost's chest, he felt it crack and pulled away. The ghost floated unconsciously like a feather. Under him the school body screamed in terror, all order gone as they tried to dug out the mess of gym equipment blocking the exits as the firefighters hacked the door with axes, they broke through first, the two ghost hunters followed, but were overwhelmed by the wave of fleeing students. Danny shuddered at the sight of the weapons they were carrying. He flew off, but stopped and turned towards the tiny boy slowly drifting to the floor. His parents would obliterate him in a second. He rushed towards it, taking it in his arms and backed away to the locker rooms.</p>
<p>“Wake up,” he whispered to the ghost as he laid its limp form on a bench. Eyes darting towards the door, “Hey! Poindexter! Wake up! Rise and shine!” No answer.</p>
<p>“Another noble gesture,” The deep voice made him flicker, he turned to the noir ghost towering behind him, “But you're still a troublemaker in my eyes, punk.”</p>
<p>“And you still have terrible timing,” Danny returned the snark, “are you here to take me?” then looked at the feeble young ghost floating gently over the bench, snoring lightly, “Or him?”</p>
<p>“I should take both of you,” he replied.</p>
<p>“He was just a kid, he was suffering for so long.” Danny sighed.</p>
<p>“A cruel way to go.”</p>
<p>“Why should he be punished?” Danny glared at Walker.</p>
<p>“He punished himself unfairly for long enough. I'll take him somewhere he can let go of his obsession without harm and set himself free.” The big ghost carefully picked the smaller one in his arms. Danny spotted a glance of pity in Walker's green orbs, which turned cold when their eyes met, “You're lucky, Daniel, if it were up to me, you'd be locked under maximum security, but my hands are tied.” He shook his head and turned to leave, “Your kind,” he clicked his tongue, “always getting away with murder.”</p>
<p>“My kind?” Danny asked, but he was long gone.</p>
<p>Taken by a sudden wave of exhaustion and pain, he collapsed on the bench, waiting for his core to stop quivering, thousands of thoughts racing through his mind, none of which he could properly focus on. Walker always left him perplexed.</p>
<p>“The Grapes of Wrath, Daniel!” From the oddity of the shout Danny already knew who it was.</p>
<p>“There's a book with that name and you make us read “the old man and the sea”?” Danny smiled at Lancer.</p>
<p>“You look ghastly! Thought you were a ghost for a second,” he exclaimed, narrowing his eyes at his odd student's smuggish grin. “All students are to leave school grounds immediately!” He crossed his arms and frowned, “I know you'd rather avoid your parents, but it's dangerous in here, the ghosts are still at large.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah, I'm going.” He stood up and stretched, wincing at the snapping sound.</p>
<p>“What are you doing in here of all places?”</p>
<p>“Nothing was flying around in here, so... seemed like a good place as any” He shrugged.</p>
<p>“Fair enough, I suppose.” He gestured Danny to follow him, “If these ghost invasions start becoming a weekly event I'll have to request a bigger school budget,” he mumbled to himself.</p>
<p>“You should request for a bigger pay check.”</p>
<p>Lancer's laughter deflated into a jaded sigh, “It will take a teacher's death for the school board to even consider such a thing,” he said, Danny glanced at him with worry, the teacher looked more tired than usual, his stiff, intimidating posture now slumped and sloppy.</p>
<p>Lancer led him outside with the rest of the student body. Sam and Tucker pounced at him to explain what had just happened. “You saved the school, dude!” Tucker exclaimed. Danny couldn't quite agree, but pride swelled in his chest as he spotted his parents leaving the school bored and disappointed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>apologies if this chapter is a bit brief, it's more like a build up I suppose.<br/>I might take longer to update now, I made some big changes to the outline, and I want to have most of it finished before I upload something and regret it. cya.<br/>(also I couldn't help myself from sneaking in that parks and rec joke :shrugs:)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. This time, Johnny</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yeah I changed to present tense, trying new things and it just feels better, sorry if its off putting.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The carnival </span>
  <span>is </span>
  <span>bustling with people enjoying the warm Friday night of an Indian summer. Danny and his friends wait in line for the wooden rollercoaster know</span>
  <span>n</span>
  <span> to be terrifying not for its design, but for its blatant lack of safety inspections. “If you two would let me try carrying you while I'm flying, we could have a lot more fun.” Danny joke</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, his friends </span>
  <span>a</span>
  <span>re quick to dismiss the idea. </span>
</p>
<p>“I don't think it's a good idea to eat that before riding it, Tucker.” Sam points at the pink cotton candy Tucker’s tearing apart. He shrugs, his iron stomach can take it.</p>
<p>
  <span> They groan at their school A-listers cutting the line, </span>
  <span>even out of school their jurisdiction still stand it seems</span>
  <span>. Sam </span>
  <span>takes</span>
  <span> Danny's arms, alarm</span>
  <span>ed</span>
  <span> by his sour glare. He look</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> away and decide</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> to annoy Tucker by picking on his snack </span>
  <span>and sees </span>
  <span>Jazz wandering with a friend, they wave at each other. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Such peace didn't last. Danny sp</span>
  <span>its</span>
  <span> out the cotton candy that froze </span>
  <span>in</span>
  <span> his mouth. “Ghosts,” he warn</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> his friends in a whisper. “Stay here, I'll look around.” </span>
</p>
<p>“We can help,” Sam calls, going after him.</p>
<p>“How?”</p>
<p>
  <span> She pulled a white and green thermos from her purse, “Your parents gave it to us after Wednesday's attack. We were supposed to give it to you, but it sucks ghosts so...” She purse</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> her lips, Danny nod</span>
  <span>s, she is always prepared.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> They chase after the sound of a truck's horn being pressed repeatedly, and as suspected, the driver </span>
  <span>is </span>
  <span>fumbling in his cabin against an invisible foe. Danny </span>
  <span>goes</span>
  <span> ghost. The driver manage</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> to fumble his way out of the truck, followed by a green snake that gr</span>
  <span>o</span>
  <span>w</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> in size. It chase</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> after him, but Danny tackle</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> and shock</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> it. He search</span>
  <span>e</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> for its core, but the snake quickly recover</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> and whip lashe</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> him off its back and against the truck. Sam yell</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, aiming the thermos at the moving creature. Danny's fingers spark, he raise</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> his hand towards the snake and sh</span>
  <span>o</span>
  <span>ot</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> a bright green ball of fire that blast</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> its head and stagger</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> it long enough for Sam to active the thermos and have it vacuumed inside by a bright blue beam. She close</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> the thermos tightly, a proud smirk on her face. Tucker yell</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> and point</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> at the truck, moving backwards on a small decline and smashing against the support railings holding the old rollercoaster. It topple</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> at the very peak, just as a car </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>s about to pass. Danny sho</span>
  <span>o</span>
  <span>t up</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> and grab</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> its two passengers that barely have time to process their possible fate.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny watche</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> the car flying off towards the carnival. Towards a red head girl. Towards Jazz. He</span>
  <span>’s still holding</span>
  <span> the two kids, he c</span>
  <span>an’</span>
  <span>t make it in time, he conside</span>
  <span>rs</span>
  <span> dropping them, </span>
  <span>but even then he won’t save her</span>
  <span>. She scream</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> at the car plunging towards her. On the very last moment, something snag</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> her away. The car land</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> hard, exploding in sharp chunks of wood and metal, raising the dirt path in a cloud of dust. Danny land</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> with the two kids still in shock to make sense of everything. He r</span>
  <span>u</span>
  <span>n</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> towards the accident, turning human without caring if anyone spotted him. He bat</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> away the dust. The cold in his mouth only further</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> his panic, he c</span>
  <span>an</span>
  <span> tear apart any ghost that show</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> up within seconds. He yell</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> for her, dreadfully walking past the debris and finding relief that somehow she </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>sn't there. “Oh!” A familiar voice exclaim</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>. He r</span>
  <span>uns towards it to find</span>
  <span> her beside</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> a large, black motorcycle, held by a man with greasy shoulder length blonde hair, clad in heavy black clothes and tall boots. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny call</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> for her, she </span>
  <span>is panting</span>
  <span> heavily, all color drained from her usually pinkish cheeks, her hair completely disheveled and her clothes caked with dust, she barely notice</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> his presence when he grab</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> her hand. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “It's alright, there, Kitten.” The stranger's soothing voice br</span>
  <span>ings</span>
  <span> some sense back to her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> They help her stand as her legs wobble. Danny exchange</span>
  <span>s </span>
  <span>a glance with the man, he seem</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> pretty calm and collected, but something in his eyes </span>
  <span>look</span>
  <span> weird. It's said the eyes are the window to the soul, and Danny c</span>
  <span>an</span>
  <span> see something move behind his murky green irises. She shiver</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> from the shock. The man unwrap</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> his </span>
  <span>red</span>
  <span> scarf and </span>
  <span>cover</span>
  <span> her </span>
  <span>over</span>
  <span> like a mantle. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Thank you,” she mumbl</span>
  <span>es</span>
  <span> weakly. Eyes fixed on his. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny clear</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> his throat, “Yeah, thank you...” </span>
  <span>he waits.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Johnny, name's Johnny” he answer</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “I'm Jazz,” her voice’s smooth, she pull</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> away after catching a glimpse of her appearance in the chopper's mirror, “Wow, I do look like I was almost run over by a rollercoaster.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “I think you look just perfect, kitten,” he sa</span>
  <span>ys</span>
  <span>, a finger brushing a strand of her windblown hair from over her eyes. Danny fel</span>
  <span>ls</span>
  <span> irked by that pet term and trie</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> to pry Jazz away from the stranger's embrace, but she cl</span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>ng</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> to it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> The emergency services beg</span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>n to gather around the incident, seemingly ignoring the three of them. People beg</span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>n to gather around, while the police </span>
  <span>keeps them at bay</span>
  <span>. “How about a ride home, kitten?” Johnny ask</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>. Jazz accept</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, still disoriented, but Danny </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>s not about to let a weirdo take h</span>
  <span>is</span>
  <span> sister on a bike ride. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “What? No way.” The boy protest</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, hanging on to his sister's arm, “Jazz, you don't even know this weirdo.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Weirdo? Kid, have you seen your hair?” Johnny's sleazy laughter d</span>
  <span>oesn’t</span>
  <span> set right in his ears. He might have saved his sister, but Danny ha</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> a</span>
  <span>n</span>
  <span> ill feeling in his stomach. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Don't be rude, Danny. He saved me!” Jazz grab</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> the helmet he offered her, the half-helmet type, Danny wonder</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> if it even help</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> in the event of a crash, or if it was just something people that thought they were too cool for safety wore. Jazz was definitely </span>
  <span>
    <em>not </em>
  </span>
  <span>one of those people, at least he thought so before watching her put it on. </span>
</p>
<p>“Jazz, what are you doing? You can't just go off like that, let's go to the ambulance, get something for you to drink, or whatever.”</p>
<p>
  <span> “Don't worry, kid. The breeze would do her good.” Johnny step</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> before her, trying to push Danny aside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Yeah, until you crash after running over a tiny pebble.” He groan</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “What's up with you now, Danny? Aren't you always annoyed when I'm the one trying to stop you from doing things? When I'm the overzealous one?” Jazz protest</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, the </span>
  <span>foreign </span>
  <span>disdain on her eyes </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>s enough to push him away. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> He watche</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> Johnny start his obnoxiously loud chopper (no wonder they were named like that), the smug on his face when she wrap</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> her arms around his waist, the way the smoke puffed right at Danny and if the boy's lungs worked he would be left in the dirt having a coughing fit. </span>
</p>
<p>“Did I just saw Jazz leave on a motorcycle?” Sam and Tucker walk over.</p>
<p>
  <span> “Dude, who was that?” Tucker ask</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Some creep that Jazz is drooling all over.” Danny grumble</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> An officer call</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> them out and order</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> them to leave. The carnival </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>s closing for investigation, no amount of bribery c</span>
  <span>an</span>
  <span> save it after that accident. They walk past the little kids sitting on the back of an ambulance, wrapped in blankets, puzzled looks on their faces. Reporters and cameras attempt to look over police lines and interview people claiming they saw the kids floating in the air, hanging on to something invisible.</span>
</p>
<p><span> “Danny, you're becoming a superhero!” Tucker cheer</span><span>s</span><span>. Danny dismisse</span><span>s</span><span> it with a laugh, the very last thing he need</span><span>s</span> <span>i</span><span>s the attention. </span></p>
<p>
  <span> He return</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> home to see Johnny's bike parked by his house. Jazz had never brought people home before, even her closest friends from school, too embarrassed by their parents. Danny f</span>
  <span>ind</span>
  <span> them on the couch, uncomfortably close to each other, she t</span>
  <span>akes</span>
  <span> a quick glance at him, but Johnny seem</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> annoyed by his presence. Danny </span>
  <span>decides to</span>
  <span> linger by the kitchen, making sure his presence was know by loudly handling the dishes. “My friends call me Johnny 13, because of my tendency to be... unlucky.” He hear</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> the man say </span>
  <span>and rolls</span>
  <span> his eyes, drama king trying to score pity points. “Thirteen,” Danny scoff</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, “I bet he has a 31 tattooed somewhere. Loser.” He s</span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>t</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> by the table with a glass of orange juice, </span>
  <span>poking</span>
  <span> a sandwich lazily prepared, thankful for not feeling hunger anymore, eating for nourishment sake could be such a hassle. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “We're going to order pizza.” Jazz st</span>
  <span>ands </span>
  <span>by the door, “you can join us if you promise to behave.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny laugh</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, “That's asking too much, even for pizza.” She roll</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> her eyes and walk</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> off, heading upstairs with heavy steps. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Soon Johnny walk</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> in </span>
  <span>and </span>
  <span>lean</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> on the wall, watching Danny eat with a glare, but he kn</span>
  <span>o</span>
  <span>w</span>
  <span>s the game,</span>
  <span> so Johnny yield</span>
  <span>s,</span>
  <span> “You got a problem with me, kid?” He sp</span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>t</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “You're a creep on a motorcycle hitting on my sister, figure it out.” Danny t</span>
  <span>akes</span>
  <span> a quiet sip of his juice, not bothering to face the man. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Johnny step</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> in to lean on the table, “You should be more thankful that I saved her from getting crushed by a motorcycle.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny s</span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>t</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> up decisively to even their heights, Johnny's eyes seem</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> a bit brighter under the kitchen's lights, but the odd feeling in Danny's gut flare</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> once again. “I don't like you holding that against her.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “I'm not holding anything against her,” he hisse</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, “You're the one acting like you got a hold on her choices, little bro.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> The two </span>
  <span>are</span>
  <span> one second away from throwing fists when Jazz walk</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> into the room, glaring sharply at Danny, he hate</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> how Johnny back</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> away first, raising his hands with an apology, coming off as the bigger man, the gentleman. “The delivery guy is stuck on traffic thanks to a ghost attack,” she roll</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> her eyes “Let's go out to eat instead, clearly we won't get any peace here anyway,” her bitterness st</span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>ng</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> her little brother. </span>
  <span>H</span>
  <span>e watche</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> her wrap her arms around Johnny's and lead him off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny wait</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> for his bike to start </span>
  <span>and </span>
  <span>turn</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> ghost, immediately chas</span>
  <span>ing</span>
  <span> after them. Johnny's bike </span>
  <span>is</span>
  <span> too large to attempt any dangerous driving, but he ha</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> a blatant disregard for red lights, </span>
  <span>Danny’s</span>
  <span> shocked to see his sister d</span>
  <span>oesn’t</span>
  <span> care. Perhaps Jazz, the big sister, the school's prodigy, the mentor, secretly longed for a bad boy to whisk her away from her world of responsibilities, to make her feel alive one red light at a time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Or perhaps near death experiences change</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> someone just as much as absolute death experiences.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> They stop by a</span>
  <span>n</span>
  <span> innocent looking pizza restaurant, no dirty dive bar to Danny's relief, </span>
  <span>and take a seat</span>
  <span> on the furthest booth in the corner, snuggling </span>
  <span>on </span>
  <span>each other like they've been dating for a week, whispering and giggling like idiots, despite Jazz's smile, Danny's gut still yell</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> at him. He linger</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> at the darkest corner, away from refracting light that c</span>
  <span>an</span>
  <span> expose him, and watch</span>
  <span>es</span>
  <span> the two talk. For a moment, Johnny just listen</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> Jazz talk, making no moves, no attempts to “get to the good stuff”, just s</span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>t</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> and listen</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>. Danny's opinion on the creepy dude beg</span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>n</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> to change, until he notice</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> his fingerless gloved hand clawing at the booth's plastic seat, hidden from her view, like a cat that can't reach its prey and just watches it, anticipating the right moment to strike. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> The pizza arrive</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, after eating just one slice, Johnny excuse</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> himself and </span>
  <span>goes</span>
  <span> to the restroom. Danny follow</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>. He t</span>
  <span>akes</span>
  <span> off his gloves and washe</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> his face, rubbing vigorously, groaning through gritted teeth, mumbling while shaking and hitting his head. Danny close</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> in quietly. “Leave me alone, leave me the hell alone,” the man grunt</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, a darkly aura h</span>
  <span>a</span>
  <span>ng</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> above him like a black cloud, seemingly embracing him, running black ink tendrils through his arms, purring deeply like a tiger. A cold breath escape</span>
  <span>s </span>
  <span>Danny's mouth. Suddenly, they turn to face the ghost. The dark aura expand</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> and growl</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> at Danny's eavesdropping. Johnny raise</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> his arm, the shadow flow</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> through it and sh</span>
  <span>o</span>
  <span>ot</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> at Danny, breaking his intangibility and smashing him against the restroom wall, pressing against him, tendrils clenching around his torso., </span>
  <span>Danny thinks he sees a face in the mist. </span>
  <span>“You!” Johnny shout</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, shocked to see Jazz's little brother true form. Danny release</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> the current building in his core, electrocuting the shadow, it pull</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> away with a painful </span>
  <span>high pitched</span>
  <span> howl and return</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> to Johnny, “You're a ghost?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Yeah, and what the hell are you?” Danny groan</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, Phantom's glow channeling on his hands. Johnny's voice </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>s silenced by the shadow, </span>
  <span>expanding</span>
  <span> again and pounc</span>
  <span>ing</span>
  <span> on Danny, phasing him through the wall, to the poorly lit back alley. Danny h</span>
  <span>o</span>
  <span>ld</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> on and shock</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> the creature once again, but it seem</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> to have grown darker, more opaque, and stronger. It str</span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>k</span>
  <span>es</span>
  <span> his chest, the impact pushe</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> him back against the wall. It raise</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> its sharp tendrils for a second strike, </span>
  <span>but it’s</span>
  <span> sucked back into the restaurant's wall.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny d</span>
  <span>oesn</span>
  <span>'t follow, the pressure on his core </span>
  <span>is</span>
  <span> too unstable and fighting in a small restaurant </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>sn't a good idea. From outside he watche</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> Johnny speaking to his sister before leaving her on her own and riding off with his bike, perhaps that </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>s the last they w</span>
  <span>ill</span>
  <span> see of the creep, though Danny doubt</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> he was threatening enough to scare him off. Yet. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> He s</span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>t</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> on the swings of a little playground across the street and wait</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> for his sister, eating alone, dejected. </span>
  <span>A</span>
  <span> familiar ringing startle</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> him, he pull</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> his cellphone from his pocket, having forgotten it’s even there, Sam's name </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>s on display, “hey, Sam.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Danny! I've been calling you over and over again, was your phone off?” She sound</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> alarmed, “Are you watching the news?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “No,” Danny answer</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, another ghost attack he figured.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “There was this big ghost attack that completely wrecked Axion Industries!” She exclaim</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, “Your parents are there, the news filmed them blowing up a few ghosts already!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “I got more things to worry about, Sam.” He stop</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> her from going on, “That Johnny guy creeping on my sister is an even bigger creep than I thought.”</span>
</p>
<p>“Oh no, is he like... super old?”</p>
<p>
  <span> “No! Maybe, I don't know...” He sigh</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, “But I think he's being possessed by a ghost.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> A brief silence, Danny </span>
  <span>o</span>
  <span>s just about to explain himself further, “How do you know?”</span>
</p>
<p>“Cause it attacked me when I saw it floating over him!”</p>
<p>
  <span> “What?” She shout</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, Danny pull</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> the phone away from his ear, “Are you alright?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “I'm fine, he left Jazz alone-” He spo</span>
  <span>t</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> his sister outside, calling for a cab. “I gotta go, keeping an eye on Jazz, something tells me the creep will come back.”</span>
</p>
<p>“Okay, take care. Bye.”</p>
<p>
  <span> He pocket</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> his phone and fl</span>
  <span>ies</span>
  <span> after the taxi. From above, he watche</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> the long lines of cars and buses slowly crawling to their destination (one thing he w</span>
  <span>ill</span>
  <span> never have to worry about anymore), most likely caused by the ghost attack, the great Axion Industries </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>sn't very far away. Danny wander</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> how his parents </span>
  <span>a</span>
  <span>re faring, if Walker </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>s there, if they w</span>
  <span>ill</span>
  <span> encounter each other, he doubt</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> his parents could take the noir ghost out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> The way to the Fenton's house </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>sn't totally jammed. Danny phase</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> back into his bedroom, and soon after Jazz call</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> him. She point</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> towards the leftover pizza in the kitchen and slump</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> on the sofa. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “I take it didn't go very well,” Danny trie</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> to remain impersonal. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> She purse</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> her lips, “He had to go, a friend had an accident and needed his help.”</span>
</p>
<p>Danny bites his lips to repress a sarcastic chuckle, “maybe it's for the best, right?”</p>
<p>
  <span> “What do you mean by that?” She turn</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> to him, not hiding how insulted she fel</span>
  <span>ls</span>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p><span> “I mean, you,” he gesture</span><span>s</span><span> towards all of her, “suddenly going out on a chopper with a guy you just met wearing a crappy helmet that you would have a heart attack if it was </span><span><em>me</em></span><span> wearing it, and like, he totally looks the type that runs through red lights.” Danny chuckle</span><span>s</span><span>, knowing she </span><span>i</span><span>s lying if she denie</span><span>s</span> <span>it</span><span>. “This isn't like you!”</span></p>
<p>
  <span> She sigh</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, “You're right, Danny, this isn't like me, an</span>
  <span>d</span>
  <span> that's exactly what I need.” She sa</span>
  <span>ys</span>
  <span> and turn</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> her face, ending that conversation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny st</span>
  <span>ands</span>
  <span> there awkwardly, he expected her to defend herself, or Johnny, but that was Danny's fault, his sister </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>s too self aware to act ignorant. He look</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> at the TV, “Mom and Dad are fighting ghosts on Axion Industries.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Worried, Jazz turn</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> it on. The news show</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> fire bursting out from windows, black smoke rising. “Mom and Dad are there?” She shout</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>. He t</span>
  <span>a</span>
  <span>k</span>
  <span>es</span>
  <span> a seat next to her </span>
  <span>to </span>
  <span>watch the events unfold, arguing in his head whether he should go and help, but the burning itch in between his ribs quickly end</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> the discussion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> The reporter narrate</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> over the footage, “Experts say,” which Danny and Jazz assumed </span>
  <span>a</span>
  <span>re his parents, “that this might be a ghost turf war” the reporter's voice clearly expresse</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> a mix of skepticism and confusion. “Starting with a haunting in the warehouse, where employees would find boxes pilled all the way to the ceiling.” She continue</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>, showing CCTV footage of boxes seemingly moving on their own, floating and dumping their contents on the floor carelessly. “The haunting,” she sp</span>
  <span>ea</span>
  <span>k</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> with the skeptic tone, “broke past the security systems and eventually spread through all the facilities in a furious, invisible mayhem.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny watche</span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span> with mild interest, Walker </span>
  <span>i</span>
  <span>s not doing his job very well. His parents eventually appear on what it seemed like the trailer for a sci-fi movie, clad in weird jumpsuits, shooting floating green creatures with lasers and nets and missiles. </span>
  <span>The ghosts they fight are just tiny wisps that look more scared and confused than offensive, but the couple has great synchrony and accuracy, not to mention their seemingly endless arsenal, Danny watches it carefully with a pang of fear, remembering the hole his mother managed to tore in the lunch lady all by herself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They watch the even unfold for another hour before things seemed to die down, both the fire and the ghosts extinguished, when the commercial break starts Jazz goes to sleep, Danny continues watching without paying attention, his mind drifts and he falls asleep. </span>
  <span>His parents’ return wakes him up, his mother feels endeared that he stayed and watched the whole thing, he congratulates them as best as he can and goes back to bed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> He manages to get through another night without any incident, his powers have stabilized, he wakes up in a good mood, his parents slept late and headed off to Axion Industries to help deal with the aftermath. </span>
  <span>Sam and Tucker come in by </span>
  <span>the</span>
  <span> afternoon </span>
  <span>and they spen</span>
  <span>d</span>
  <span> most of it </span>
  <span>playing </span>
  <span>video</span>
  <span> game</span>
  <span>s, Tucker, in all his genius, created a cheat table that maxed the character’s level to the max, so they have fun being godlike from the first minute</span>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>I’m so glad I got this baby before the whole building got wrecked by ghosts,” Tucker says, admiring his </span>
  <span>palm sized PDA, </span>
  <span> typing the number 9 six times, the game’s experience counter goes up just shy from a million. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s evening when</span>
  <span> a loud, mechanical rumbling grabs his attention. </span>
  <span>Invisible, he flies to the roof and sees the creepy biker parked in front of the house, Jazz quickly prancing towards him, wearing his dirty scarf, and hops on the chopper and they drive away. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>I’m going after them,” Danny tells his friends, </span>
</p>
<p>“Can we help?” Sam asks.</p>
<p>
  <span> H takes his phone, “I’ll keep you posted.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Johnny takes her to the movie theater nearby, they speak casually while waiting in the line, her hands never leave his arm, she has a soft smile on her lips, he looks at her like she is delicate and beautiful, and if it wasn’t for what he saw yesterday, Danny would’ve changed his mind about him, </span>
  <span>but still he calls his friends and they hurry to get there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> He sneaks into the room after them, </span>
  <span>
    <em>I should do this more often, </em>
  </span>
  <span>he thinks. It’s mostly empty, they sit in the middle, he sits at a corner, still invisible, in a way that he can watch them. He feels like a creep watching his sister cuddle with the guy. The film starts, some dumb romantic comedy, </span>
  <span>Sam and Tucker come in just as it begins and sit a row behind them just out of Jazz sight. T</span>
  <span>hey watch it for about ten minutes before Johnny makes his movie, he starts by kissing her softly on the forehead to catch her attention, then her cheek, Danny can’t keep his eyes fixed, it’s too awkward, but Jazz is transfixed, she looks him in the eyes and it is obvious that for her the entire world ceased to exist, Johnny is the only thing. But they linger like that for a long while, to the point where it gets creepy, as if someone have paused a movie on the moment that the girl falls in love and left. Danny sees the weird way the faint light of the screen shines on Johnny, he has a black outline like a cartoon, the ghost, Danny realizes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Johnny’s hands are trembling as he caresses Jazz’s cheeks, she is in stasis still, </span>
  <span>he is inching closer to her lips, but with hesitation. Suddenly something happens in the movie and the screen brightens the room, Johnny pulls away as if it blinded him, but Jazz remains unmovable, something is definitely wrong. Johnny stands up and turns to the keen light of the projector, staring directly at it. </span>
  <span>
    <em>“Sit down idiot!”</em>
  </span>
  <span> Someone shouts. So he rushes off the rows of chair and up the stairs off the theater. Danny </span>
  <span>turns visible, gesture to his friends to tend to his sister</span>
  <span> and </span>
  <span>runs</span>
  <span> after him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The biker makes a quick exit, but doesn’t go to his bike, instead stops by the theater and leans at the wall, in the penumbra between the building’s light and a streetlight. </span>
  <span>He’s struggling, shaking, fidgeting, passersby think he is a junkie.</span>
  <span> He decides to face the man eye to eye.</span>
</p>
<p>Johnny looks relieved to see him.</p>
<p>“Danny!” He calls, Danny frowns at the casual mention of his name, “I-”</p>
<p>“What the hell did you do to my sister?” He growls, barring his sharp teeth, the faint shadow outlining Johnny shivers.</p>
<p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>You gotta help me, I-” He lurches forward and grunts as if he had been punched in the stomach. His legs drag </span>
  <span>him</span>
  <span> like a puppet away from the light. </span>
  <span>The shadow is thicker, darker, it snaps at Danny with a dark tendril when he tries to reach for the man. Johnny is shoved by an invisible force towards an alley, Danny is scared of hurting the man, he can’t do anything but follow him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Johnny spins and raises his hand, the shadow shoots from his fingers, smashing at Danny’s chest like a spear, he falls to the ground. “I’m sorry! I can’t control myself!” Johnny cries out, the shadow is possessively circling him. </span>
  <span>Danny tries to shoot a bolt of lighting, but he can’t do it fast enough and the shadow has no trouble dodging it and launching itself against him again, but Danny manages to </span>
  <span>escape</span>
  <span> it barely. Johnny is struggling to pull it away. It lashes out with dark claws and Danny has no option but to back away into the light where it won’t chase him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>It won’t stop until it has your sis-” He falls on his knees. The shadow drags him deeper into the alleyway, envelops him fully and they both disappear in the blink of an eye.</span>
</p>
<p>Confused and frustrated, Danny returns to his friends as they leave the room comforting his sister, she looks upset, but not hurt. “Jazz, what are you doing here?” He tries to play it cool.</p>
<p>“Wasting my time, Danny,” she says with her head down, a hand clutching the scarf hesitating to pull it away, “I’m going home.”</p>
<p>“Okay, I’ll walk you there.”</p>
<p>
  <span> “No, I wanna be by myself.” She dismisses him and hurries her pace, </span>
  <span>but he can’t let her go on her own, not when Johnny still out there. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>She didn’t seem to remember anything,” Sam said, “she thinks she fell asleep and we woke her up and she was alone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He </span>
  <span>thanks</span>
  <span> his friends </span>
  <span>for the help</span>
  <span> and follows her from above, dejectedly walking down the street, hopefully that would convince her to keep away from the biker. </span>
</p>
<p>Monday came along, when Danny gets to the kitchen, Jazz isn’t there. He waits for a bit, drinking half a glass of chocolate milk, but she never comes. He hurries upstairs and knocks on her door just like she does when he’s late. He hears her mumble something, the door opens and she is unrecognizable, her hair hastily combed, her clothes a sweater and sweatpants, she looks at him with puffy eyes and excuses herself to the bathroom.</p>
<p>He waits for her back at the kitchen. When she comes down her hair is slightly more under control, pulled into a loose ponytail, her eyes are less puffy but downcast. She pours some orange juice, slaps butter on a miserable piece of toast and eats without a word.</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny has no idea what to say, everything that crosses his mind might only make things worse. “maybe it’s better this way right? Better to realize he was trash earlier than later,” he says with a soft smile, she looks at him dejectedly and shrugs. </span>
  <span>He bows his head. Johnny doesn’t show up the entire day, or the next two, and Jazz’s mood doesn’t improve. Even their parents notice, but she doesn’t tell them its over a boy, she’s too proud. </span>
</p>
<p>They return from school on Thursday’s afternoon to find the man and his bike across the street from their house. Jazz parks her car and looks at him reluctantly. Danny right beside her, glaring, “don’t bother Jazz, who does he think he is?” He says, but he knows exactly who, he wishes he could help, but his sister comes first.</p>
<p>“Maybe, but I need to know why,” she says and leaves the car, crossing the street to him. Danny leaves the car and watches. They talk in hushed tones, Johnny has that soft, affectionate expression, gazing at her lovingly, she goes from despondent to forgiving to elated as he whispers to her ears, an arm slithering over her back, pulling her closer.</p>
<p>But Danny is watching, so he doesn’t dare to make his move. He climbs in his chopper and she steps back to her car and watches him go with glimmering eyes and a hopeful smile. “What did he say?” Danny asks and breaks her trance.</p>
<p>She shakes her head and glares at him, “Nothing, what are you still doing here?” She snaps, walking past her and into the house.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>I have to do something,” Danny says to his friends, and nipped on a rubbery french fry. </span>
</p>
<p>They have lunch outdoors, under an unusually warm fall weather, the leaves were falling, but they wore short sleeved shirts. Not that Danny noticed cold or warmth anymore.</p>
<p>“It’s sensitive to light,” he says more to himself, “but it only leaves Johnny's body if its dark, so I can’t attack it without hurting him.”</p>
<p>“Why do you even care about the dude?” Tucker asks, not looking up from his pad.</p>
<p>“He’s innocent! It’s obvious he really likes my sister and is trying his best to keep that thing from hurting her. I don’t wanna hurt someone being possessed.”</p>
<p>“So what’s the brightest spot in this town?”</p>
<p>They ponder. “The football stadium?” Sam says.</p>
<p>“Yeah, but when’s the next game?” He looks at his friends, a geek and a goth, “forget I asked.”</p>
<p>“Our football field lights are pretty strong, that’s where the budget for new books disappeared into,” she says with a sting of disdain.</p>
<p>“Alright, but we need to lure it there while its dark and find a way to turn them on.”</p>
<p>Tucker hums, “I think I have an idea.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Later that Friday </span>
  <span>evening</span>
  <span>, </span>
  <span>the trio</span>
  <span> sits at the living room, the TV is on, but </span>
  <span>their</span>
  <span> attention is at the window. Johnny’s chopper makes an unmistakable roar as it stops before the house. </span>
  <span>Danny</span>
  <span> watches, crouched behind the window, the biker is talking to Jazz from her window. Moments later she comes prancing and stops when she sees Danny at the couch, “not going to say anything?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “You got ditched twice and you’re still going after him, there’s nothing I can say to change your mind,” he says without looking away from the TV, </span>
  <span>Sam and Tucker don’t look either</span>
  <span>. She hesitates for a second, but the motorcycle hums and she is </span>
  <span>running</span>
  <span> out of the house.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Danny follows them from above, hoping they won’t go far from school, where Sam and Tucker are going to in a taxi. Johnny drives carelessly, they turn to a small hill, a known spot for lovers overlooking the city, its close enough to school, but how far from him can the ghost go?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> The couple settles under a tree, the city glimmers, it’s the golden hour and the sunset casts a gorgeous warm light that contrasts with the growing dark blue of the night. Johnny pulls her on his lap, he runs his fingers on her neck, brushes her hair back and kisses her neck. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny feels disgusted. He lands behind the tree. Johnny’s hand circles her breast, his a gentleman at least, and settles on her thigh, the other hand holds her face, pulling her to a kiss. Danny can see the growing black outline that surrounds Johnny slowly enveloping his sister. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> It’s time to act. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> He goes invisible and gets close enough for the shadow to notice. Johnny pulls away, but Jazz is already enthralled and stays there, lips puckered, eyes fluttering. Johnny is pulled upwards, he turns to then intangible anomaly floating before him. The shadow flies from his body and Danny dodges, flying into the air. </span>
  <span>It follows him up until the trees end and the light shines. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny stays in the air, taunting. Johnny gets to his motorcycle and goes off. He follows, getting close enough each time to get a rise out of the ghost, it is furious, Danny can tell. He purposely takes the park route, surrounded by trees, cloaked in shadow. The ghost lunges at him in a surge of power, but it can only go so far without losing its influence on Johnny. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> They get to the school, Danny pretends to be tired and stops. The angry ghost is pouncing at him in a flash. Danny struggles to dodge it, trying to weaken it, his offensive powers are still slow and clumsy, but the times it hits it hits hard. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He manages to lure them to the field. From afar Sam is watching, </span>
  <span>Tucker right behind, fiddling with his PDA connected to an electric panel. S</span>
  <span>he raises a hand telling him to wait. He plays catch with the ghost, managing to hit it a few times. Johnny watches from his bike, an anxious look on his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p><span>The last line of light disappears behind the school building.</span> <span>The shadow expands double its size. Its tendrils grab Danny and throws him against the grass, hard enough to form a small crater. </span></p>
<p>
  <span> “Danny!” Johnny shouts and runs towards him, but the shadow tugs its tail and he’s thrown back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> White light blinds floods. He hears both the ghost and Johnny scream. His vision clears. Sam is running towards them, opening the metal therm</span>
  <span>os</span>
  <span>, she points towards Johnny and his moving shadow. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> A </span>
  <span>blue</span>
  <span>, </span>
  <span>cosmic beam of light shoots from the thermos, and drags the shadow towards it, but Johnny is affected too, the ghost wraps its tendril around the man and he grasps at the grass, fingers digging into the dirt as they are pulled by the immense force. Johnny screams.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Sam! Stop!” Danny yells. She presses the small button on the side and aims it away from them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Johnny’s breathing is ragged, he gasps for air, his legs are limp. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Johnny, are you okay?” Danny shouts.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Stay away!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Danny stops. The large stadium lights blink.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Danny, hurry!” Tucker shouts from the back of the bleachers, “I can only hold the current for so long!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny is unsure what to do. The shadow is weakened, but Johnny is wounded. Green goo spills from underneath him, he’s a ghost too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Johnny, I don’t know what to do!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> The light blinks once. Twice. Then darkness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> The shadow rises. It growls deeply, it reverberates like thunder. It expands tenfold. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Sam opens the thermos again, but a dark tendril quickly whips it away from her hand, she yelps and tumbles to the ground. The shadow lunges at Danny, opening up like a blanket, it swallows him, enveloping him into a void. He tries to push through, but it closes in on him, physically pressuring him, clinging to his skin like sweat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “You want light</span>
  <span> then</span>
  <span>?” Danny grunts, his core vibrates haphazardly, the current crossing through his limbs intensify. “You’ll get light.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A green glow flashes inside the pitch blackness, and suddenly rays of electricity are tearing rips through the surface like razor blades. The creature screams as it dissolves into ashes that the light burns away. Phantom bursts through in an explosion. The others watch the electric ghost in awe. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> His light dims, slowly he lands and Danny returns. He stumbles and falls to his knees. Sam runs towards him, but the static air is practically visible.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Johnny is dragging himself away, but someone steps before him. He looks up, a white glowing man looks down on him with two green eyes. </span>
  <span>He claps slowly, “Well done, kid,” Walker says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny frowns at him, “Here to take credit for another ghost I took down?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “I’m not taking any credit. Just cleaning after your mess.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Glad to know you’re humble enough to admit it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Sam’s wide eyes are fixed on the bizarre ghost, “Danny, who’s that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Walker. He says he hunts problematic ghosts, but I’m starting to doubt him,” Danny answers with a cocky smug.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Walker lets out a deep and hearty laugh, “Oh, kid. The fact that you don’t notice my work, means I’m doing it right. Trust me, there are worse things than a punk in a motorcycle.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>Wait,” Danny shouts, “don’t take Johnny, he was being possessed?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Possessed?” He snorts, “No. Just out of control.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “But the shadow?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Its all him, whether he likes it or not,” he looks down at Johnny, dejected by his feet. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> With the wave of a hand, Walker opens a cosmic tear, he grabs Johnny from the ground with one hand like he weights less than a plastic bag </span>
  <span>and throws the biker in. Danny frowns at the lack of respect for another ghost being.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>I see that you are controlling yourself pretty well. That’s good, I really don’t want to have to hunt you down.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Scared?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Walker smiles at him and disappears, only his laughter echoes in the air.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Tucker comes running. “Whoa dude, who the hell was that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Yeah, Danny, you’ve been keeping a lot things from us, haven’t you?” She cocks a brow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Yeah, I guess,” he admits, “you guys helped me a lot through this, so I guess I should come clean.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “You should,” Sam says, “but first, lets make sure your sister is safe.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span> They find Jazz back home, lying in the couch with a bucket of ice-cream, watching a dumb rom-com. Danny approaches her quietly while his friends go upstairs. She’s not crying, her expression is bland, which is more worrying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Did he hurt you again?” Danny asked in a whisper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> She nodded slowly, “I guess you were right.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Hey, I wish I wasn’t.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> She smiles fondly at him, “sorry I didn’t listen to you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “I guess I know how you feel now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> He sits next to her and she pulls him into a hug. His hands sneaks in to grab a spoonful of ice cream. “Hey!” She exclaims, but Danny is quick to shove the spoon in his mouth. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> They laugh as a man projectile vomits on a woman in the screen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny pulls away and she squeezes his cheeks, “thank you for looking after me,” she says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “After all you did for me? I will always be looking after you. </span>
  <span>That’s what a brother does.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Also sorry for the delay, I've been sick on and off this month (no not corona), and there may be some typos in there too because I didn't edit as many times as I usually do.<br/>I broke my "always stay ahead" rule, the next chapter is barely written because nausea is awful, so there is no ETA for the next chapter, specially since it's supposed to be a big one.<br/>Hope y'all liked this one though. Thanks for the kudos and comments!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Frail State of Mind part 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Wake up, Danny!”</p><p>The voice was distant, otherworldly. Danny felt his core stir to life like the family’s computer, a machine vibrating and heating with energy. His eyes felt impossible to open, heavy with the kind of sleep he hadn’t felt in recent memory, even when he was alive.</p><p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>It’s freezing</span>
  <span> in here,” </span>
  <span>h</span>
  <span>is sister’s voice </span>
  <span>said</span>
  <span>, “you left the window open again! Danny, you’ll catch a cold!” She kept going, he fought the malaise in his limbs and sat up, but his eyes remained closed. “Well, hurry up, you overslept. I’m making you a toast so you can eat in the car,” she said, and he heard the door close. </span>
</p><p>His fingers scratched his eyelids, catching a crust glued to his lashes. He groaned with disgust and pain as he pinched the goo out; he felt it all over his eyes. Half blinded, he staggered to the bathroom’s sink and washed it away.</p><p><span> A green blur in the mirror startled him awake. </span><span>A sharp breath. N</span><span>eon green </span><span>eyes</span> <span>glared at him, he couldn’t recognize them, but they looked familiar, they were swelled and bruised, the dark skin underneath sagged, bits of dried green goo clung to it. </span><span><em>Nothing a shower won’t fix,</em></span><span> he hoped. </span><span>But he tried it warm, he tried it cool, and only it freezing cold brought him a bit of relief. </span></p><p>
  <span> He returned to the mirror to see the same eyes peering back at him. White hair, green eyes, ghastly skin, bony thin. Ordinary parents would take him to a hospital, his parents would put him in a machine and exorcise him </span>
  <span>atom by atom</span>
  <span>. He put on his clothes, and found </span>
  <span>the</span>
  <span> pair of </span>
  <span>mirrored</span>
  <span> sunglasses </span>
  <span>he bought on a whim last summer and used </span>
  <span>only</span>
  <span> twice. </span>
</p><p>“It’s not that sunny outside,” Jazz said as she saw him by the kitchen’s doorway.</p><p>“I feel a bit of a headache, the lights are bothering me,” he said, fully expecting her to go in overprotective mode.</p><p>“Even indoors?” She leaned closer, he pulled away, “did you take an aspirin?”</p><p>
  <span> He nodded and grabbed the toast and butter she left on the counter. Jazz still had her signature inquisitive frown, but the lack of time was on his side, and she didn’t ask anymore questions as they drove to school. It turned out Danny wasn’t entirely lying, even at overcast and with sunglasses, the gray daylight </span>
  <span>bloomed </span>
  <span>harsh</span>
  <span>ly</span>
  <span>; </span>
  <span>it played tricks on him, strange shadows moved like glimpses of ghostly tendrils dissipating like smoke. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>So, Danny,” Jazz stared, and he braced for impact, “it’s spirit week-”</span>
</p><p>“Oh great, I forgot all about that crap.”</p><p>
  <span> “It’s not crap, it’s important for student morality, and </span>
  <span>
    <em>mental health,” </em>
  </span>
  <span>she empathized it as if she threw the words at his face. </span>
</p><p>“So, anyway, Lancer and I have been talking about you lately-”</p><p>“You've been talking about me with Lancer?” Danny interrupted and bared his elongated teeth.</p><p>The aggressiveness took her off balance, “We've been concerned about you!”</p><p>“And you decided to talk to a teacher behind my back!”</p><p>“This is the kind of behavior I'm talking about,” she gestured towards his offensive posture.</p><p><span>Silence hung dense</span><span>ly,</span><span> she stopped to park the car. He step</span><span>ped</span><span> out </span><span>before she could park</span> <span>and made</span><span> his way to the entrance, </span><span>above the door hang a huge banner “spirit week centennial”. He was </span><span>relieved to see Sam waving at him, “</span><span>cool </span><span>glasses.”</span></p><p>“You should see what’s underneath,” he said, and lowered it to show his eyes, she took a sharp breath and looked at him with concern.</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <span>Danny! </span>
  <span>You told me you needed to watch your temper, we're just trying to help!” </span>
  <span>Jazz caught on,</span>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>Oh, h</span>
  <span>i Sam”, she waved a the goth girl who replied with a less excited wave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>Everything alright?” </span>
  <span>S</span>
  <span>he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “No, my sister is bringing a teacher, </span>
  <span>
    <em>Mr. Lancer</em>
  </span>
  <span>, into my private life.”</span>
</p><p>“It’s not private if it affects your school’s performance.”</p><p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>Oh, so that’s what you’re worried about.” He was growling. Sam faintly grabbed his wrist, holding him back. Cold escaped his mouth, a ghost attack could be a good distraction. He shook his head and stepped away, hiding behind Sam. </span>
</p><p>“Please, Danny, can you just listen?” Jazz pleaded, “you don't wanna talk to us, fine. But there's a new school counselor and you really should try-”</p><p>“A counselor? You want me to look even more weirder?”</p><p>“Danny, this is about your mental health, stop caring about what other people think about you!” She raised her voice, “Please, can you go see her?”</p><p>He needed to get out of that discussion, people were watching, they were right by the entrance, and a ghost was nearby, waiting. Stupid ghosts and their stupid timing. “Fine, whatever.” He shrugged and waited for his sister to lead him towards the counselor's office, sulking a few steps behind her.</p><p>She knocked on the door, after a moment of silence, she turned to Danny, “Just wait here for her, okay?” She pleaded, her big round eyes softened his irritable mood, he shrugged. “And take those sunglasses off during the session.” Danny watched her leave, just when he thought things were going to be alright between the two she went off and snitched to the teacher that despised him the most.</p><p>
  <span> The cold air escaped from his lips as he noticed the green glow from within the office. A quick glance showed that he was in the clear, all the nearby students faced their lockers. He turned ghost and sneaked into the office. A large green blob of slime floated above the old carpet. As much as he wanted class and this therapy session to end before it started, he also didn't want his parents in high alert, as they expressed their idea of patrolling the school during class, </span>
  <span>which would lead to further embarrassment and Lancer talking about the counselor</span>
  <span>. Hell. No.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> He took advantage of the pressure in his core from the previous argument and reached out for the ghost’s core, but the weird blob proved to be more clever than it looked, sensing Danny reaching out and immediately sprouting a complete set of arms and legs and essentially got into a fist fight with Danny, with the advantage of his oozing body regenerating any wound the human ghost inflicted in it. It reached for a chair and tossed at him, Danny dodged, it smashed against the shelf and toppled all the books on it. His fingers sparked, he pierced his hand inside the goo and blasted it away, it crashed against the desk and snapped it in half. The blob growled at him and its elastic body shot towards him, tackl</span>
  <span>ed</span>
  <span> him against a cabinet, and escaped through the ceiling.</span>
</p><p>The door opened, Jazz and Lancer stood by it, appalled at the destruction in the room, their eyes settled on Danny, caught red handed. For a moment, towering above him in the shadows, Mr. Lancer reminded him of Walker, “<em>Pride and Prejudice</em>, Daniel! What is the meaning of this?” He yelled in a way that Danny never heard before and it felt absolutely horrifying. Shame washed over him. The boy couldn't find the right words, couldn't look his teacher in the eyes, he lowered his head, ready to accept any punishment.</p><p>“This is the kind of behavior I was worried about!” Jazz followed.</p><p>“Shut up, Jazz...” Danny mumbled.</p><p>“Do not be rude to your sister, Daniel,” Lancer scolded, “She's worried about you and rightfully so! Destroying school property? This aggressiveness is unacceptable!” He reached out and seized Danny’s sunglasses, the boy bowed his head.</p><p>
  <span> “This lashing out is clearly a plea for attention,” </span>
  <span>s</span>
  <span>aid a rather sultry voice. They turned to the tall woman entering the room, her eyes hidden by black sunglasses, her hair oddly styled, parted like red horns (</span>
  <span>but the</span>
  <span> weird mullet </span>
  <span>was more off-putting</span>
  <span>), her sleek smart suit the same shade of blood red. For a counselor she dressed pretty aggressively.</span>
</p><p>Danny already hated her, “attention” was the very last thing he needed.</p><p>“Let's not worry about this mess of an office,” she said as she straightened a fallen portrait of her with two jaded looking students. “No biggie!”</p><p>“He destroyed an office!” Lancer protested.</p><p>“Danny, why would you do that?” Jazz turned to him.</p><p>“I don't have to speak to you anymore, Jazz.” Danny spat.</p><p>“That's more than enough out of you, Fenton. Go to class, Ms. Spectra and I will decide on a punishment for you.” Lancer pointed at the door, Danny left with a spiteful grimace, and bumped onto a short butler-looking man with thick brows and mustache. The man glared at him with spite and disappeared into the office.</p><p>Danny spent his classes sulking, fidgeting, clenched teeth clattering with the vibrations from his core, he bore a hole in his eraser with his fingernail. Word had gone around about Danny's alleged fit of rage, people eyed him with suspicion, teachers in particular glared at him with disapproval. Danny could tell what they were all thinking. <em>It was bound to happen.</em> He tried to hide his eyes with his hands or lowering his head, which made him look even more pathetic. But as the day went by, they faded back into blue.</p><p><span> The static carried by the dark, heavy clouds strolling slowly in the sky clung to him like sweat, he avoided touching metal as it nipped at his fingers. </span><span>Every now and then, he caught t</span><span>endril-like shadows</span><span> moving by the corner of his eyes, </span><span>he worried the blob ghost would get him into more trouble</span><span>.</span> <span>Forced into an appointment, h</span><span>e waited by the office's door. Paulina, of all people, left distraught, </span><span>shivering, she</span><span> brush</span><span>ed</span><span> her dark </span><span>hair</span><span> her over her face</span><span>, </span><span> glanced at Danny </span><span>and</span><span> asked </span><span>in a meek whisper</span><span>, “</span><span>d</span><span>oes my head look like a fish?” Danny shook his head, </span><span>but </span><span>she didn't look convinced. </span></p><p>“You shouldn't listen to what Dash says, he's an idiot.” He reassured, but it fell to deaf ears.</p><p>Spectra called him in. The room was terribly cold, even for him. He sat before her desk. She lowered her black tinted glasses and scrutinized him. “Daniel Fenton.” She started, “Your sister told me a lot about you.”</p><p>“Of course she did, snitch.”</p><p>
  <span> “She's merely worried about you,” she said, “</span>
  <span>t</span>
  <span>hat you're not dedicating yourself enough to anything, that you're lazy.”</span>
</p><p>That word hit him, “She called me lazy?”</p><p>She nodded, “both her and your teacher, Mr. Lancer,” she paused at Danny's growl, “and so there's your temper, the biggest problem it seems. Don't you think you're becoming quite an unlikable person?”</p><p>“What?” He leaned closer, “No... I...” He couldn't find an argument when his core was becoming so overwhelming, weighting in his chest, the shuddering rushing in his ears, he began to feel dizzy, that mentally piercing sensation of nails on a chalkboard, but dragged in slow motion. He was going into sensory overload.</p><p>“I mean, first you begin breaking things, what's next? You'll hurt someone,” her voice was physically putting pressure in his head, squeezing until his eyes felt like popping off his sockets. “You'll hurt someone you love.”</p><p>He pulled back from his chair, it crashed on the floor, the loud sound triggered a violent reaction, he was going to blow up at any moment, “Are we done here?” He yelled, “We are done here.” Without waiting for a response, he ran from the office.</p><p>
  <span> The hallway elongated into infinity, he staggered like an alarmed zombie, passing by the peering glares of his classmates. Too many people. He needed to be out of sights. Danny rushed to the door he knew was the janitors closed and shut himself in. He fell on his knees. The lonely light bulb hanging from the ceiling lit up and brightened more than its capacity, exploding little glass shards all over the place. The tight room rumbled to Danny's volatile state as he tried to contain himself and his power. </span>
  <span>Thoughts of hurting his sister crossed through his mind louder than the ectoblood rushing in his ears, </span>
  <span>“I won't hurt her, ever!” He cried.</span>
</p><p>He screamed a silent shout of violent vibrations, his core released tension like a pierced pipe, the earth quaked, the room shook, all the janitor's equipment were blown away, bouncing against the walls and in the air like a poltergeist took them over. Little cracks spread across the weak drywall.</p><p>Danny was drained. He could feel his core hollowed out. He sobbed and wiped his tears with his sleeve. Dust fell on his hair. After a bit of struggling, he stood up and sneaked his way out of the closet, too tired to turn invisible. No one saw him. Danny found the alarmed students leaning against the walls, crouched. “Was that an earthquake?” Someone asked. “Please don't be a ghost,” one whispered.</p><p>He found Sam and Tucker, they looked at him with concern, and for once he was thankful for it. “Are you sure Jazz would say that? It doesn’t sound like her to call someone lazy,” Sam said.</p><p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>Maybe she didn’t say the word lazy, but she knows ways to circle around it, very manipulative ways that sound mature and professional so she can convince anyone, Mr. Lancer, my parents, Spectra…” His words dripped with disdain. Danny saw they exchanging worried glances, as if he was escalating the situation too much, saying things he didn’t mean. Was he becoming a bitter, unlikable person? Or was his sister manipulating them behind his back </span>
  <span>too?</span>
  <span> “After all I did for her and Johnny, she just forgets all about it and suddenly I’m the problem child again.”</span>
</p><p>“Danny,” Jazz hurried towards him, and he felt his mood sour even more, “did you talk to Spectra? How was it?”</p><p>“Useless.”</p><p>
  <span> She grimaced. “</span>
  <span>G</span>
  <span>ive her a chance, you have to talk to somebody. You barely have any friends.” She gestured to Sam and Tucker and they stiffened and frowned at the insult. “Besides these two,” she corrected to no avail, “and you have absolutely no extra curricular activities.”</span>
</p><p>“Extra curricular activities? You say this isn’t about school, but you always come back around to it, like I’m supposed to love this place like you do. Not everyone is pumped up full of spirit all the time, you know?”</p><p>
  <span> A cold spell ran down his spine. His senses sharpened. </span>
  <span>The room widened and the flickering shadows returned.</span>
</p><p>“Danny? You’re shivering.” Jazz placed a hand over his shoulder.</p><p>
  <span>He jolted from her touch and screamed “leave me alone!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span> Danny ran, he was going to explode again, the halls were putting immense pressure on his core, he despised them, despised how dull and never ending they were, he despised the people that walked along them. He followed the ghost’s cold energy, but couldn’t find it, it stalked him from within the walls, through the ventilation system, the plumbing. Everywhere. It could be anywhere, it could be anyone. It could be possessing a student, or many. </span>
  <span>The shadows followed him, but somehow he knew they were a separate entity. No. He realized they were no entity at all, they were somewhere else, and he was peering through a veil and seeing them, when he shouldn’t. The thought scared him more than the stalking ghosts, </span>
  <span>Danny shivered so much he was sweating. </span>
  <span>Clinging desperately to reality, he held on to a water fountain, and wet his dried mouth, his tongue had shriveled up like a raising, the water had a dull and heavy taste. Suddenly, the fountain’s steel bent in itself, and crumbled like a soda can. The water shot up, leaking uncontrollably, forming a puddle on the linoleum floor.</span>
</p><p>“Daniel!”</p><p>
  <span> The voice broke his trance. He looked around to see students circling around him, with Lancer coming through them, his features twisted with anger. “</span>
  <span>
    <em>Leaves of grass!</em>
  </span>
  <span> What’s the matter with you?” He shouted, and grabbed his arm, pulling him away from all the commotion. “Someone call the janitor.” </span>
  <span>He dragged Danny to a nearby empty classroom, “what’s going, Daniel? What’s with this erratic behavior all the sudden?”</span>
</p><p>But Danny was too in shock to answer. Lancer’s anger turned to concern, his student was disheveled, trembling violently, pupils dilated. He held his shoulders and shook the boy. “Daniel. Listen to me. I need you to tell me what’s going on.”</p><p>Danny blinked, his eyes fixed on Lancer leaning down to face him. The boy gasped, scrambling back to reality, he tried to pull away, but Lancer held him steady. “I’m fine! I’m fine!”</p><p>“No, you’re not.” He held the boy in place. “You smashed the water fountain.”</p><p>“I didn’t! It wasn’t me! I swear.”</p><p>“People saw you.” Lancer knelt before him, “Danny, I need you to tell me, and I promise I won’t tell your sister, or your parents, but I need you to be honest with me. Are you on drugs?”</p><p>Danny looked at his teacher with genuine confusion. “What? No!”</p><p>Lancer sighed, “then what’s going on?”</p><p>The hands on his shoulder eased the grip, Danny pulled away. “Nothing, nothing.”</p><p>“If you’re not going to be honest with me, then I have no choice but to give you detention, and tell your sister. I’m <em>this close</em> to contacting your parents, and we both don’t want that, do we?”</p><p>Danny shook his head.</p><p>“And you are to return to Spectra.”</p><p>“Please, not her.”</p><p>“Then who, Daniel?”</p><p>Silence.</p><p>“I’ll give you time to think. First thing tomorrow, you’ll have to talk to her. She’s here for this exact kind of situation.” He laid a hand on Danny’s shoulder, “Please, don’t make me call your parents.”</p><p>Defeated, Danny shook his head.</p><p> </p><p>The rest of the school day was unbearable. People called him names, whispered behind his back, spun rumors about family insanity, about drugs. They were scared of his behavior, and repulsed by his appearance. Even Dash and the players seemed to steer clear of him. To his relief, Sam and Tucker didn’t turn from him, they walked by his side; Danny explained his situation, but they were powerless to do anything. “I’ve been reading about ghosts, non-fiction, real accounts and theories, but I can’t find nothing that relates to you,” Sam said sadly, as if she wasn’t doing enough.</p><p>“It’s alright, I just need you guys to understand, this isn’t me, I didn’t do those things.”</p><p>“We believe you, Danny.” Tucker laid a hand on his back.</p><p>Danny couldn’t ask more from his friends, he didn’t want to pull them into this madness any further.</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At home, Jazz didn’t pry any further. Danny believed Lancer had something to do with it, and for a moment he was thankful for the grumpy teacher. </span>
  <span>The mental strain left him exhausted, away from the school he didn’t feel the stalking ghost, but the strange veil remained, only in his bedroom he did he find relief. He laid in bed in a cocoon of blankets, and left the window open for the chilling autumn wind bringing signs of rain. The morning started the same as the previous one, Jazz waking him up from the heavy sleep, and he blindingly making his way to the bathroom and wiping the crust from his green eyes. </span>
</p><p>“Don’t forget your appointment with Spectra,” Jazz said after a long silence, and left the car. Danny found it odd how she was controlling herself, but couldn’t complain.</p><p>
  <span> A storm brewed in the sky. He noticed the gloomy atmosphere stretched itself inside the school, with some students carrying themselves like zombies, the usual loudness was abs</span>
  <span>ent</span>
  <span>. </span>
  <span>
    <em>So much for spirit week,</em>
  </span>
  <span> Danny thought. It didn’t bother him, he could use some peace. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> After an eerily quiet class, </span>
  <span>with only the sound of thunder and the teacher’s monotone monologue,</span>
  <span> Danny begrudgingly made his way to Spectra’s office. </span>
  <span>The door opened and Valerie came out looking miserable. “</span>
  <span>Don’t blame your decreasing popularity on your dad’s resignation, you might not be putting enough effort keeping it,” Spectra told her, dismissing her </span>
  <span>sorrowful sigh. Danny decided that either she didn’t understand teenagers, or she was just deceitful, and judging by her devilish appearance, he settled on the latter. How did Lancer even find her? </span>
</p><p>“Well, well, if it isn’t the troublemaker,” she said in an almost flirtatious way that unnerved him, “come in, we have much to discuss.”</p><p>The office was colder than the last time, he wondered if it was intentional, some psychological tactic to make students uncomfortable, or if Spectra was just weird, probably both. She sat with her hands clasped on the table, and a creepy thin smile on her lips.</p><p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>I heard about your little… episode with the water fountain,” she said and waited for Danny to defend himself, he knew he couldn’t. “Well, you must realize how this kind of behavior scares your classmates.” Danny shrugged, better to be feared than mocked. “Mr. Lancer said you denied doing it, I think you must come to terms with your behavior, therefore I got something for you.” She reached to her drawer and picked a sign hanging from a thread, “I want you to wear this for the rest of spirit week, to remind yourself before you fly off into another rage episode.”</span>
</p><p>Danny’s eyes went wide, he couldn’t wear it, people were already aware of his problems. She looked at him and urged him to put it on. He let the thread hang from his neck. “Well then, up you go. Time for class.”</p><p>“That’s it?”</p><p>“That’s it.”</p><p>“This didn’t help at all.”</p><p>“Don’t be negative, you’ll see the sign will work if you start to feel aggressive.”</p><p>
  <span> He grunted, and left the office feeling more drained and confused than before. He felt all eyes on the sign hanging over his chest, if they weren’t scared of him, they sure were after reading a sign that said </span>
  <span>
    <em>“I have anger issues, please be </em>
  </span>
  <span>
    <em>mindful.</em>
  </span>
  <span>
    <em>”</em>
  </span>
  <span> He felt like a dog locked behind a sign warning passersby. </span>
  <span>Ironically, and further proof Spectra knew nothing, the sign only made him angrier, and the anger laid heavy and volatile in his core.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “I don’t think she’s doing much good,” Sam said during lunch, looking over the </span>
  <span>sour mood that afflicted everyone, from the geeks to the preps and athletes. </span>
</p><p>“I don’t think she’s doing good at all,” Tucker added.</p><p>“Have you been to her already? She has no idea what she’s doing!”</p><p>“I wanna see what this is all about, I mean what does she say to those people in one session that gets them like this, they look like zombies,” Sam said.</p><p>“Don’t. Don’t take chances.”</p><p>“I can’t avoid it,” Tucker said, “I have an appointment soon.”</p><p>“I’ll go with you, maybe she’ll let me listen.”</p><p>“I don’t want you prying on my personal life!”</p><p>“Guys! This is serious, there is something weird going on, I can feel it. Tuck, don’t be honest with her, don’t answer directly, try not to answer at all!”</p><p>
  <span> Tucker nodded, but Danny knew he knew it wouldn’t work. “</span>
  <span>I doubt she will get much though, it’s not like my life is a disaster and I’m overflowing with problems and insecurities,” he said, and winced at Danny’s glare, “sorry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span> Danny spent the day in the boiling point. The air was electric. The fluorescent lights were too bright. Every sound was too loud. </span>
  <span>He snapped at a teacher that insisted on asking for a problem’s answer when he didn’t even know which class he was at. </span>
  <span>So there he was again, waiting for Lancer to come down at him with another sermon, but the teacher was too busy preparing Friday’s spirit presentation, and Danny was sent to detention without much ado. </span>
</p><p>He found his friends sulking. Tucker’s eyes weren’t glued to a screen or a girl; Sam’s ever constant outrage replaced with unusual fatigue. They’ve been to Spectra, no doubt.</p><p>“She said I use technology because I’m unable to interact socially, and that I’ll be alone forever because of it,” Tucker said.</p><p>“She said I’ll end up like my parents no matter how much I rebel.” Sam said.</p><p>
  <span> Danny was more certain than ever that Spectra was beyond useless, she was harmful. So he waited through detention, shifting and twitching restlessly on his table. The storm crashed heavily against the window, it enhanced the miserable grey mood that befallen the school. </span>
  <span>His core attuned to the lighting, he felt the thunder’s shockwave rock his body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “Can’t you see how everyone is acting like zombies?” He told </span>
  <span>Lancer as soon as the other detention students left the room. “Spectra isn’t doing much good.”</span>
</p><p>“The students are in a period of realization, they are becoming aware of their issues, it will take some time to start working through them.”</p><p>“Look what she made we wear!” He raised the sign to the teacher’s tired eyes. Lancer’s amused expression drove him mad. “It’s humiliating!”</p><p>
  <span> Lancer sighed, </span>
  <span>he glanced at his papers and rubbed his temples,</span>
  <span> “look, Daniel, Spectra has a lot of experience in this field, she won plenty of awards and has quite a resume, rest assured that this is all part of a plan.”</span>
</p><p>“Your presentation will be a disaster. You think everyone will be cheery and bursting with spirit by the end of the week, then?”</p><p>
  <span>Lancer seemed offended. “It’s the start of a conversation. Your sister is set to give a speech that should inspire the kids to see through this dark period, to connect to their own selves and allow their improvement.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span> Danny ran his nails on the table. “Something ain’t right </span>
  <span>about this.</span>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>You, most of all, should allow yourself to change. Whatever it is you’re repressing is draining you. You need to face it while you have a chance.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Danny scoffed, “I doubt she can help me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “No one will if you can’t open up.” Lancer set his papers aside, “</span>
  <span>what could possibly be so outrageous that you feel that no one will understand you?” He asked in an earnest way that Danny felt an urge to confess, but what good could his English teacher do? Regardless of good intentions. Danny didn’t need someone else to vent to, he had his friends and that was enough. “Is it your parents and their recent rise to fame?”</span>
</p><p>“No. Maybe. Maybe it’s a lot of things.” He said. The thunders boomed right above them, he jolted at the lighting flashing the room. The lights flickered. The window rattled.</p><p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>Is Ja</span>
  <span>smine</span>
  <span> coming to pick you up?”</span>
</p><p>“I don’t think so.”</p><p>“Then wait a while, I can drive you home after I’m done with these papers.”</p><p>
  <span> Danny nodded and returned to his seat. Lancer’s kindness always took him by surprise. </span>
  <span>He waited to the sound of storm. The shadows in the dark corners of the room wavered like vortices that reminded him of the ghost zone. He kept glancing at them, expecting an invisible ribbon to wrap around his torso and pull him into the void. </span>
</p><p>“Scared of storms, Daniel?” Lancer asked, looking at him with an empathetic smile.</p><p>“It’s been a while since we had one this strong.”</p><p>Lancer looked out the window and nodded. They couldn’t see a thing outside, only blurred halos of light. “Shouldn’t you call your sister, tell her you’re here?”</p><p>“I’ll text her.”</p><p>
  <span> After a long silence, both their phones beeped. The city’s ghost alert warned of a ghost attack downtown and suggested avoiding the area.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “Doesn’t seem like ghosts </span>
  <span>are</span>
  <span> bothered by rain,” the teacher said, and Danny scoffed, wishing he could say the same. “Your parents must be pretty busy these days.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>I guess…”</span>
</p><p>“With that whole situation with Axiom. A shame Valerie’s father got blamed for it. How would he know that he had to account for ghosts?”</p><p>Danny nodded.</p><p>“I wonder how this all started? Do your parents know anything?”</p><p>“I don’t know.”</p><p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>Are they absent most of the time?”</span>
</p><p>Danny shrugged and sulked on his seat.</p><p>“Your sister did say things in your home have been more chaotic than usual.”</p><p>“Did she tell you about her biker fling?”</p><p>“Her what?”</p><p>Danny sneered, “of course she didn’t, in her narrative she doesn’t have any flaws.”</p><p>
  <span> Lancer pursed his lips and fiddled with his papers. “I’m done with th</span>
  <span>ese</span>
  <span>, but I don’t think it’s wise to leave now. Sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “It’s alright,” Danny replied,</span>
  <span> he couldn’t blame the man for the weather. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> “This ghost attack is likely </span>
  <span>making a bigger mess with this storm. You know I found myself right in the middle of one, back when this whole thing started. A gigantic octopuses smashed my car, almost got me with it, but someone, </span>
  <span>or something,</span>
  <span> appeared out of thin air and pushed me out of the way,” he said breathlessly as if the memory was still vivid. “Haven’t looked at octopuses the same way ever since.”</span>
</p><p>“Or lunch ladies,” Danny added.</p><p>
  <span> “Or basketballs... </span>
  <span>
    <em>Scarlet letter,</em>
  </span>
  <span> what a mess we’re in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    <em>You have no idea,</em>
  </span>
  <span> Danny thought. </span>
</p><p>“This is why this week is important, you know? To remind everyone we can go through it together.”</p><p>Danny shook his head, for him there was no way through it and he never felt more alone.</p><p>“You disagree?”</p><p>“This group morale thing doesn’t work on me.”</p><p>“Oh?”</p><p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>I can’t relate to it.”</span>
</p><p>“You’ve always been a bit off the center.”</p><p>
  <span> Danny cocked an eyebrow, those words resonated in him. Did he always fe</span>
  <span>el</span>
  <span> that way? Even when he was alive?</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “Your friends are into their cliques, the goth and the tech geek, is that what they are called in movies? I don’t wanna say nerd.” He scratched his goatee. “</span>
  <span>B</span>
  <span>ut you are a bit of a wallflower. Your sister too, but she hides it behind her studies. That’s why it worries me, are you feeling stagnated? Are you disappointed at yourself?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span> Danny choked on his protest. He tried to dissociate himself from the fact that he was dead, and what was left? A constant internal prodding of something akin to loneliness. He slid down his chair and his legs held his weight and kept him from slipping further. </span>
  <span>Unfocused eyes stared at the sign set on his table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    <em>“I have anger issues, please be </em>
  </span>
  <span>
    <em>mindful.</em>
  </span>
  <span>
    <em>”</em>
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The lurking shadows seeped further.</span>
</p><p>“Can I be disappointed at not having anything to be disappointed at?” He finally said.</p><p>“I believe so.”</p><p>“And what should I do? Find a hobby? My hobbies never lasted long.”</p><p>“Jasmine said you had an interest in space.”</p><p>“That isn’t viable anymore,” he said on a whim and immediately regretted.</p><p>“Why’s that?”</p><p>Danny pondered.</p><p>“Aren’t there things that you know just weren’t made for you?”</p><p>“Maybe if you try hard enough?”</p><p>Danny let out a sarcastic chuckled. “Are you where you wanted to be, Mr. Lancer?”</p><p>The teacher didn’t seem to take it as an insult, “surely I have my own regrets, but I’m content with where I am now.”</p><p>“Content is a sad word.”</p><p>“But you’re young, Danny. It’s not time to dismiss yourself.”</p><p>
  <span>Danny stared at his own hands, he worried he would suddenly turn invisible. </span>
</p><p>“Are you scared of dying, sir?”</p><p>Mr. Lancer sat up, puzzled by the sudden question.</p><p>“When those octopuses smashed your car, what did you think?”</p><p>“I thought of running, and then I thought about my insurance.”</p><p>
  <span> Danny smiled, “didn’t you w</span>
  <span>o</span>
  <span>nder if you were going to turn into a ghost too?”</span>
</p><p>“You know... I haven’t thought about that.”</p><p>“You should.”</p><p><span>A loud boom.</span> <span>Sparks of lighting flied from the sky. The lights went off. </span></p><p>They were both rattled by it, and glanced at each other and chuckled.</p><p>“Wonderful. I was supposed to take these to the principal’s office.” He shuffled his papers. Danny saw his figure standing up, the chair slid harshly on the floor. “Do you want to come with me, or you rather stay?”</p><p>Danny looked around the pitch black room, the imposing darkness filled him with dread. He felt like a little kid as he stood up quickly and hurried after the adult man. The hallways weren’t any better. Lancer shivered with the permeating cold air, it was like a freezer. The emergency lights set up at the crossings served as a beacon, but they were too dim to help.</p><p>“Looks like maintenance has been slacking,” Lancer said tiredly.</p><p>Something rattled behind him, like a locker. They turned around, but couldn’t see a thing.</p><p>“Anyone still there?” Lancer shouted, his voice trembled a bit. Danny was a bit calmer, his ghosts senses yet to flare.</p><p>But the shadows, the damn shadows. Were they ever going to do something?</p><p>Danny continued forward, but stopped when he realized his teacher wasn’t moving. He turned to Lancer frozen in place, peering into the darkness. “Sir?”</p><p>“Do you see that?”</p><p>
  <span>Danny could see something, but was it the same thing? Could Lancer see the shadows? The twirling vortices like soap in water </span>
  <span>floating in what looked like stars</span>
  <span>?</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>Those phosphene looking things.”</span>
</p><p>“What’s a phosphene?”</p><p>“When you close your eyes and see lights and patterns.”</p><p>Danny took a deep breath, so Lancer could see them.</p><p>
  <span> “Yeah. I do. I thought it was just that?” </span>
  <span>He faked.</span>
</p><p>“But they look so real, so tangible.”</p><p>If Lancer could see them, then Danny wasn’t crazy, and if he wasn’t crazy then they were real, and possibly threatening.</p><p>“We should keep moving,” he urged. Thankfully, Lancer listened, and turned around towards the principal’s office.</p><p>It was locked.</p><p><span> “</span><span><em>The crucible,”</em></span><span> he</span> <span>cursed under his breath, “where did everyone go? It’s not that late.”</span></p><p>“Maybe they left before the rain.”</p><p>“Am I the only one here dedicated to his job?” He didn’t shout, but his voice echoed through the empty hallway, a fitting answer.</p><p>“To be honest, I think so.”</p><p>
  <span> Lancer chuckled, and Danny caught the glimpse of a smile in the penumbra of the emergency light. </span>
  <span>He took a key chain from his pocket and went through the numbers of similar looking keys, but he fumbled with the light and the lack of glasses.</span>
</p><p>A sonic boom shook the building. The key chain dropped on the floor. They both, wide eyed, looked to the end of the hallway with dread. The phospenes were aggressively shifting like tentacles. Definitely “alive”. Danny snatched the key chain and shoved it on Lancer’s hand. The man fumbled quickly, fingers trembling. The lines were glowing exactly like in the phantom zone.</p><p>
  <span> Lancer singled out a key and unlocked the room.</span>
  <span> He pushed Danny in, and just as he was about to step in, the man </span>
  <span>was</span>
  <span> snagged by a vine-like tendril and pulled back swiftly like a hooked fish. Lancer screamed as he slid down the hallway. Danny </span>
  <span>rushed</span>
  <span> after him, </span>
  <span>but the teacher disappeared into the dark, and all Danny could hear was his screaming echoing from all directions. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> Shrouded by darkness and fear, he began to glow acid green. His core hummed with anger, whatever that thing was had caused harm to someone that cared for him. </span>
  <span>His fists crackled with lighting. He floated quickly through the hallways, seeing through the darkness, searching for the source of the haunting. </span>
  <span>The shadows scurried away from his sparkling light. He scoured the school, but it had changed, it was no longer part of reality. He looked through the window and saw the ghost zone growing caustic with energy, as if a storm raged within it too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It came to him as an outside thought, a sudden idea. He would find Lancer in his office. </span>
  <span>Despite the dream-like layout, Danny finally spotted the door, and as he came closer a sharp, piercing pain hit him right in between the eye. A weariness in his bones. </span>
  <span>Static in his brain. </span>
  <span>It came from Lancer, he knew it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> He opened the office’s door to find a vast </span>
  <span>cosmic </span>
  <span>emptiness. The teacher floated in the distance, wrapped by the </span>
  <span>white</span>
  <span> glowing tendrils. </span>
  <span>As soon as he flew in, the shadows attacked. He dodge</span>
  <span>d</span>
  <span> and swerved, and shot lighting to break them away. His core vibrated, pouring out energy, he glowed like a lighthouse’s light, and seared through the tendrils, but he was in their realm, they came endlessly, overwhelmingly, </span>
  <span>pushing him back like waves filled with seaweed</span>
  <span>. </span>
  <span>The place seemed just as infinite,</span>
  <span> Lancer never seemed to get any closer, </span>
  <span>but his pain, </span>
  <span>Phantom</span>
  <span> could feel him struggling, and it made his core tremble violently, close to shattering; he felt its energy tearing his body from inside out, and he poured it out as a wailing scream, breaking through the void faster than the speed of sound, annihilating the shadows in its way. It left him weak, his shimmering dimmed to a candlelight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> At the edge of consciousness, Lancer stared at him. The teacher was floating in the air, free from the shadows. </span>
  <span>Phantom reached out to him and there was light. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> Danny found himself in Lancer’s office, back into the material word. The man laid before him, with a pained frown as if he was having a bad dream. “</span>
  <span>Mr. Lancer?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span> Lancer’s eyes shot open. He lurched forward with a gasp, his eyes scanned his surroundings and stop on Danny. For a moment, Danny caught a glimpse of recognition, </span>
  <span>as if</span>
  <span> he knew Danny was the creature that saved him,</span>
  <span> but Lancer shook his head and struggled to stand, his knees’ joints making an audible crack. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>What happened?” He asked out of breath, his shirt drenched with sweat.</span>
</p><p>“I heard you scream, and when I turned around you were gone,” Danny lied.</p><p>“Something… Something dragged me. It was around me, it was killing me,” he spoke incoherently, hands patting himself to assure that he was free.</p><p>“Maybe we should get out of here, the rain seems like a better alternative.”</p><p>“Yes, yes, absolutely.”</p><p>Lancer was certainly in a hurry, and made no effort to hide it. He grasped the car’s keys tightly as they headed for the exit. Neither of them were held back by the rain -that had eased up- when they stepped outside and ran to the car. They didn’t make far without hitting traffic. Lancer looked like he was going to crumble and Danny felt sympathy for the jaded man.</p><p>“Sorry if I give you a hard time, sometimes.”</p><p>The teacher seemed out of it for a moment, “I know it’s not you, Danny, you’re going through<em> something,</em>” he added emphasis to something.</p><p>“But what if it is me?” He said, eyes fixed on Lancer, “what if this is me now?”</p><p>Lancer gazed back at him with genuine concern, “then what caused this change?”</p><p>Danny’s mouth quivered, wanting to form the words he needed to say, but didn’t want to. He looked away, to the window. And Lancer had to look back at the road.</p><p>“There’s no turning back from this,” Danny added.</p><p>“There’s only going through it.”</p><p>Danny nodded.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry for this took so long. I was sick for the entirety of August, and got to write all of this, and some more that got cut, in September. my plan was to finish more of it and post by the end of Oct, but I'm ill again... so here's part 1 at least... Hope it was worth the wait.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Frail State of Mind part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><span>Danny felt his core </span><span>scorching</span><span>. Perhaps he did have anger issues, but how could anyone stay calm when their friends were so miserable? </span><span>Sam didn’t bother commenting on the cafeteria’s stakes marina</span><span>t</span><span>ing in blood, and Tucker didn’t have the appetite to eat one; Danny couldn’t recognize them at all, they were mere shells like everyone else he passed by in the school’s hallways.</span> <span>Whatever Spectra had done to them in only one session couldn’t be done naturally, something was wrong, and the constant chill of his ghost alert was further concern. </span></p>
<p>
  <span>He wandered around her office’s door. Valerie waited for her session, she was the only one besides Danny that showed any emotion besides malais</span>
  <span>e</span>
  <span> and, </span>
  <span>just like him,</span>
  <span> that emotion was anger. The door opened and Spectra – with the ever present malicious smile on her lips – guided her in. Danny turned invisible and followed them. </span>
</p>
<p>“I can feel your anger reaching a boiling point,” Spectra said, not concerned, but glad, “but are you sure it is towards ghosts? I feel like you’re redirecting it to avoid thinking of your father’s incompetence.”</p>
<p>“Incompetence?” She shouted in indignation, “How was he supposed to know? Ghosts were never a thing!”</p>
<p>“As far as I know, the ghosts attacks began happening long before they attacked Axiom, your father had plenty of time to prepare.”</p>
<p>“That’s nonsense!” She yelled, and fell back on her seat, crossing her arms and rubbing her skin to fight off the freezing cold.</p>
<p>Danny felt it too, it was oppressive, but unlike any cold he had ever felt, it was uninviting, as if it physically pulled him away like a magnet, he could feel it humming in his molecules. In no way a human could stay for so long in those conditions.</p>
<p>“I’m not going to sit here and listen to you slander my father and act like this isn’t the ghosts fault! He did nothing wrong!” Valerie screamed, but her voice wavered, she was trying to stand up and leave, but her legs wobbled, the cold kept her down.</p>
<p>“That’s denial talking.”</p>
<p>Danny caught a glimpse of something in the air, a stream of green light passing across the desk, from Valerie to Spectra, the “therapist” puffed her chest and breathed it in. Danny watched her skin soak the green, tighten and clear.</p>
<p>
  <span> He had no more doubt. Spectra was a ghost, </span>
  <span>and she was absorbing the students energy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Now go on,” she said now that the invisible transaction was over</span>
  <span>, </span>
  <span>and lead Valerie to the door with a dismissive gesture, “the spirit week’s speech will be made very soon, and you’ll </span>
  <span>
    <em>want</em>
  </span>
  <span> to be there,” </span>
  <span>her tone was malicious, </span>
  <span>Danny shivered at her tone, what was she planning?</span>
</p>
<p>Dissatisfied and furious, Valerie left the room and bumped harshly against the old butler man on her way out. He scowled at her and closed the door behind him.</p>
<p>“Bertrand, are the fireworks ready?” Spectra asked.</p>
<p>“All set up, soon as the last domino falls the whole stage will be on fire.”</p>
<p>“The sight of that snotty girl on fire will surely drive the students to misery, and I-”</p>
<p>“There’s something here,” Bertrand interrupted, and turned to look over the room, Danny stepped back into the walls, but stopped when the short man shapeshifted into a bright green panther. He took a whiff and his head reared towards Danny.</p>
<p>Danny barely dodged his pounce, shifting towards the adjacent office, but the panther followed, its massive paw dug its sharp claws across his chest. Danny yelled, turning tangible, and falling over the desk. Pain flared, green blood spilled on the carpet.</p>
<p>“You! I knew something was off about you, I could smell it!” The panther growled and pounced again. Danny rolled away, and punched its side with burning plasma, the cat slammed against the wall, Danny rose in the air and his fists glowed.</p>
<p>
  <span> Suddenly a black slender shape tackled him down. He could tell from the head’s shape it was Spectra’s true form. “Oh how interesting,” she mused, “a little ghost boy playing human, no wonder it was so difficult to drain you. </span>
  <span>Looks like I’ll have to dig deeper.” </span>
</p>
<p>Her dark hands dug into his chest and gripped his core. The pain was unbearable, he felt his whole body disconnect, as if his limbs and organs were separating. It hurt almost as much as his father’s gun blowing part of it off.</p>
<p>Almost. Danny found the strength to fight back, and blasted Spectra with a sharp and heated hit across her chest, throwing her across the room.</p>
<p>“All students are to gather at the gym for the celebration of Spirit Week’s centennial,” the school’s speakers announced.</p>
<p>“Bertrand! Hold him off! I must be there!” Spectra shouted.</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny attempted to catch her, but the panther pounced before him and raised a claw. Tendrils of lighting sparkled across the room. Danny felt his core taking hold, Phantom was taking him over. Bertrand hesitated on his strike and recoiled, his tail hid between his legs, </span>
  <span>suddenly his green glow seemed tantalizing, it shifted and rippled like a thick liquid. Phantom rose in the air and hushed towards the panther, tackling it back into Spectra’s office. His hands grasped at the cat’s jaw, fingers pressed against its gums, he pried it open forcefully, revealing the glow of the ghost’s core pulsating desperately down his throat. Bertrand pushed him away with its hind legs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> The panther shifted into a blob with many tentacles </span>
  <span>and</span>
  <span> fl</span>
  <span>ung </span>
  <span>them </span>
  <span>madly</span>
  <span>, smashing and </span>
  <span>trashing</span>
  <span> everything in the room. Phantom shielded its blows </span>
  <span>until </span>
  <span>he</span>
  <span> found and opening, but the thing was slippery and shot upwards into an empty class room. Phantom was fast, his electricity disintegrated the tentacles it touched like mosquitoes to a light, Bertrand shrieked in pain, each time it formed more tentacles to protect itself, it became smaller and thinner. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Phantom tackled him in a strike of lightening. Hands plunged into the goo, grasped the solid core, nails dug into, broke it apart. Electricity jolted. The room’s light flashed until they all burst. Bertrand yelled until its very last moments. Phantom smashed its core into pieces, left </span>
  <span>behind</span>
  <span> was a glowing green puddle, spilling slowing, evaporating. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “</span>
  <span>Jazz!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> The name echoed in Phantom’s mind. Like lighting, he </span>
  <span>dashed across</span>
  <span> the school’s ground, arriving at the gym just as the last row of dominoes toppled and the fireworks lightened up. His sister stood in the podium, staring with sudden worry </span>
  <span>that the firecrackers </span>
  <span>set up around the gym</span>
  <span> looked a bit too large</span>
  <span>. He shot across the room and tackled her down, phased through the walls and into the </span>
  <span>locker</span>
  <span> room. Muffled explosions and screams reverberated outside. She screamed and trashed around, and suddenly stopped, her wide eyes staring at Phantom’s luminescence floating above her.</span>
</p>
<p>“It’s you,” she gasped out of breath, and noticed the explosions, “you saved me? You… The others! Help the others!”</p>
<p>
  <span> Phantom flew back towards the gym, fire and smoke took over. Wood toppled down from the ceiling and walls. Students screamed in horror, louder than the flames and sparkling. Phantom caught sight of his friends in a cluster banging at the door. He aimed at it, and shot it open, they yelled and backed away. Phantom scooped down and took Tucker and Sam on his arms, pushing them out, the other students watched paralyzed, but as the two landed safely, gasping for </span>
  <span>fresh</span>
  <span> air, they followed. </span>
  <span>Phantom returned to the fire. He found Lancer going through debris, helping </span>
  <span>people</span>
  <span> out. Phantom landed next to him, still invisible, and pushed the wreckage away, freeing the students </span>
  <span>and faculty</span>
  <span>. He flew up in the air and looked for anyone else. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Lancer climbed onto the stage, coughing, blinded </span>
  <span>by the smoke</span>
  <span>. He was searching for Jazz. Phantom flew down and caught him. “No! No! There’s still Jasmine!” The teacher protested, but Phantom carried him out and landed him safely, if a bit dazed, outside. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> A shrike broke through the hallway, a furious shout. Everyone began to run, screaming as a black </span>
  <span>wraith</span>
  <span> through the hallway and tackled Phantom back into the burning gym. </span>
  <span>Her sharp black nails dug on his shape, and threw him on the flames. Her force overwhelmed, she clawed him as badly as the panther, and just as animalistic and desperate. </span>
  <span>The</span>
  <span> lighting pushed her away, but she shrugged it off easily and returned swinging at Phantom, he couldn’t find an opening. The fire didn’t burn, but the flames lapped at him and scrambled his form. </span>
</p>
<p><span>She slammed him hard, smashing him through a crumbling wall.</span> <span>L</span><span>augh</span><span>ing</span><span> maniacally as she torn Danny open. </span><span>B</span><span>acked into a corner, he raised his arms to protected his face and felt his wrists slashed and pouring ectoplasm. She dug into his chest and pierced his core. Danny gasped a silent shout. </span></p>
<p>“What a great session! We are really digging in deep!” She said, but no longer sounding cool and collected.</p>
<p>Danny felt his vision fading, when suddenly a big glowing hand grabbed her flowing black hair and pulled it harshly. She shrieked. Her nails pulled out of his core like a needle that had gone too deep, and the sudden pull was followed by ectoplasm oozing freely.</p>
<p>“No! Not you!” She screamed in sheer horror.</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny caught sight of the wide large figure pulling her backwards as she thrashed about, fighting back. He spun her around and landed a punch on her stomach. She clawed his chest. He kept her grasp on her and twisted her on his arms and </span>
  <span>bent </span>
  <span>her leg </span>
  <span>to</span>
  <span> an impossible angle. She barely had time to scream when he let go of her hair, grabbed her left arm and broke it like a twig, the sound it made was nasty and oddly satisfying to Danny, watch</span>
  <span>ing</span>
  <span> powerlessly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> A bright flash blinded him, and when his vision returned, Spectra was gone, only Walker remained, towering over him, gazing at his maimed body with a neutral cold expression. </span>
  <span>He turned to the hole in the wall as the fire consumed the gym and slowly made his way towards them. The faint sound of sirens echoed under the cackling flames. </span>
</p>
<p>“You still have some humanity in you,” Walker said calmly, “don’t lose it.”</p>
<p>
  <span>L</span>
  <span>ight flashed and he was gone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> Danny felt his body regenerating. Like a snail, he slowly </span>
  <span>slithered</span>
  <span> his way out of the unbearable heat and further into the locker room, leaving a green trail behind. </span>
  <span>The gaping wounds across his chest bled vigorously, any harsh movement caused his back pain to flare and vertigo to skew his vision. </span>
  <span>The pain </span>
  <span>overall </span>
  <span>was dull, odd, and constant, like a migraine spreading all over him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> He felt disgusted slithering on the shower’s linoleum, stopping before a drain full of entangled hair, crawling his way up and turning the cold faucet all the way; </span>
  <span>t</span>
  <span>he </span>
  <span>relieving</span>
  <span> freezing water </span>
  <span>sped up the healing, his wounds began to sow themselves, his back cracked and popped into place; he moaned and grunted, twisted and turned through the painful process. Eyes shut tightly, teeth baring, canines digging in his lips</span>
</p>
<p><span>Unbothered</span> <span>by</span><span> the crumbling gym few feet away from him or the black smoke spilling into the locker, </span><span>h</span><span>e sat under the spray like a meditating monk until the hurried footsteps of the firemen broke into the room. Mustering all his strength, he turned invisible and let himself float away like a balloon, phasing through the ceiling, through the burning roof of the gym, he watched it crumble, watched the firemen desperately fight the fire. He saw his parents’ van parked by. Saw his classmates in the distance surrounded by ambulances </span><span>and nosy reporters</span><span>; he found his sister, Sam and Tucker, Lancer, all safe and sound.</span></p>
<p>Danny smiled peacefully and floated away.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>sorry this one was short, it was supposed to be part of the previous one, but I didn't think I'd finish it this month</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This won't be an episode per episode rewrite, a few of the major antagonists will show up eventually though. I hope to update at least twice a month, but I like to be 2 / 3 chapters ahead in case I want to change something. I'll post chapter 2 once I'm done with 5 lol. (also if you notice any major writing/spelling mistake please tell me, I appreciate)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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